Tulsa council approves utility bond and budget transfers, moves opioid-settlement funds toward homelessness programs

At the 5:00 p.m. Tulsa City Council meeting the council approved a resolution allowing the trustees of the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority (TMUA) to issue up to $21,760,000 in utility revenue bonds (Series 2025C) to fund capital improvements, and approved multiple budget ordinances and internal transfers including actions intended to direct settlement and pandemic-relief funds toward homelessness and related services.

The TMUA resolution (item 4b) passed on a roll call vote with an emergency clause also approved by roll call. The council also approved, without individual reading, a set of mayor’s items that included utility-easement donations by the Oklahoma State University Medical Authority needed for infrastructure work at OSU Medical Center Tulsa. Separately, the council approved ordinances on second reading that amended the fiscal 2026 budget, including a supplemental appropriation of $223,546.75 for the convention and visitors fund (item 7b), a transfer of $4,026,700 within the Walmart opioid settlement subfund intended to accelerate homelessness programs (item 7c), and a $341,000 transfer within the Pandemic Relief Recovery Fund (item 7d). Items 7a through 7d were approved by roll call and forwarded for final action as appropriate.

Service providers and community groups addressed the council during public comment on the funding items. Mac Halton, chief executive officer of the Tulsa Day Center, thanked the council for reconsidering funds that “help individuals that are experiencing homelessness” and for reallocating dollars to support moves into housing and wraparound services. Mark Smith, representing Housing Solutions (the lead agency for A Way Home for Tulsa), said additional resources “to help people get into housing, access those wrap around services, independence and sustainability is so important to us.” Micah Keon, executive director of Tulsa Global Alliance, spoke in support of a separate cultural gift project (a sister-city fountain) and described the long-standing sister-city relationship with San Luis Potosí that the fountain memorializes.

Not all public comments were supportive. James and Bernice Alexander criticized prior housing efforts and asked where federal HUD funds have been used, and another speaker, Evan Taylor, urged the council to pair housing investments with strategies to improve employment opportunities and second-chance hiring so formerly unhoused residents can sustain housing.

Council members said the city is expanding investments in housing and homelessness and noted existing local data dashboards and partner-led programs. A councilor moved and the council approved items 7a–7d and related budget actions. The meeting record shows roll-call approval for the listed ordinances and resolutions; emergency clauses were approved where noted. Councilors also approved a council item authorizing solicitation of donations for a new Tulsaville Tulsa Bridal Services shelter facility (item 8b).