Oklahoma County Excise Board elects leaders, approves school budgets and OKs $4M employee-benefits transfer

The Oklahoma County Excise Board met July 6, 2026, elected Eleanor Thompson as chair and Brett Towne as vice chair, approved several school budget filings and temporary appropriations and authorized an interfund transfer of up to $4,000,000 to the county's employee benefits fund.

Thompson called the meeting to order and confirmed a quorum of two members. The board first approved minutes from its June 29, 2026 meeting after a motion by Brett Towne and a second by Eleanor Thompson.

The board then elected officers for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. "I'd like to propose that the chairman be Eleanor Thompson and the vice chairman be Brett Towne," Towne said. Thompson seconded the nomination and both officers were approved by voice vote.

The board received for filing an amended fiscal-year budget for Western Heights Public School District No. 41 (Fund 11) and approved the resolution as presented. The amount read into the record included an increase to the general fund; the transcript contains conflicting numeric formatting for that figure and the board adopted the filing as presented.

The board also received Metro VOTECH's school budget and financing plan for fiscal 2026'27 and approved that filing. Multiple fund and line-item totals were read aloud; several figures in the record are unclear in the transcript and are noted as such in the meeting record.

John Rex Charter Elementary District G-007's temporary appropriations for 2026'27 were approved, including a general fund appropriation of $9,567,609 and a building fund appropriation of $636,306 as read into the record.

On the final substantive item the board approved Resolution 2026-2939 authorizing an interfund transfer from General Fund 1001 to the Employee Benefits Fund, in an amount not to exceed $4,000,000, "to transfer general unpaid and appropriate it to employee benefits in order to pay claims for the county for the fiscal year 26-27," Thompson said during the discussion. The board noted the transfer followed prior budget approvals by the budget board and the excise board in the annual adopted budget for June 2026.

All motions listed on the agenda were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote. With no further business the board moved to adjourn.

The excise board did not provide additional public-comment remarks or dissenting votes during the session; officials indicated the budget and transfer items were routine and are consistent with annual fiscal procedures.