Mayes County commissioners pause budget decisions after officials identify $5 million shortfall

The Board of Mayes County Commissioners met in a special session July 9, 2025, to consider the FY 2025-26 budget after county officials reported a budget gap. Randy Pierce, chairman of the Board of Mayes County Commissioners, opened the meeting and framed the discussion around the Estimate of Needs and cuts required to balance the budget.

Treasurer Bobbie Martin reported that Mayes County took in about $18 million and spent about $23 million in fiscal year 2024-25 and that the Estimate of Needs presented for FY 2025-26 totaled $28,653,476.25. Martin said the county will need approximately $5 million in cuts to balance next year’s budget. She outlined several accounting and expenditure options to reduce the General Fund burden, including transferring Highway ST and MESTA ST out of the General Fund into cash accounts.

Commissioner Alva Martin said he preferred to “stay where they are at now,” noting that keeping highway funds in their current configuration preserves highway money that was budgeted up front. Treasurer Martin proposed several specific reductions and accounting shifts that, combined, would reduce pressure on the General Fund: $1,000,000 from a restricted account, $500,000 from Capital Outlay, and charging insurance for employees paid from cash accounts to those accounts rather than the General Fund (estimated at about $570,000). She said those moves would still leave roughly $3 million in cuts to identify.

Commissioners also discussed personnel and road-fund reductions. The board said it would return two newly added employees per district (the commissioners estimated that step would reduce costs by about $327,000) and reduce use of Road Improvement Funds by approximately $600,000. Sheriff Mike Reed said his office could use cash account funds and grant money to cover about $1 million of expenses that had been planned for the General Fund.

Additional suggestions noted in the discussion included moving about $100,000 from Social Security receipts back into the General Fund and $200,000 from Retirement. Treasurer Martin said she would prepare a spreadsheet summarizing the proposed cuts and accounting changes and hoped to have clearer public-service totals by the end of the month.

Commissioner Pierce moved, with Commissioner Alva Martin seconding, that the board wait until the County Assessor submits final valuation numbers before reconvening; the motion included meeting again without the Excise Board. The motion passed (yes: Randy Pierce; yes: Alva Martin; yes: Steve Grossman). Later, Commissioner Alva Martin moved to adjourn; Commissioner Steve Grossman seconded and the board voted to adjourn (yes: Randy Pierce; yes: Alva Martin; yes: Steve Grossman).

The board did not adopt a final FY 2025-26 budget at the meeting and directed staff to return with updated figures after the assessor’s report. Treasurer Martin will provide a spreadsheet of proposed cuts and accounting shifts to inform the next meeting.