By John Dobberstein, Editor
The Broken Arrow City Council has approved the city’s official budget for the 2025 fiscal year, one that is 33% higher than the current budget.
Even though revenues this year have finished strong, city officials said the increase is due to many factors, including inflation, supply chain issues and the availability of supplies, which means every project and initiative costs more.
The city’s bond rating remains unchanged at Aa3, which ensures it will gets favorable rates when issuing bonds.
Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon says the city has maintained a conservative approach to spending and balancing operational needs, resulting in a strong general fund balance and bond rating. The 2024 fiscal year ended with $4 million in net income in the general fund.
The 2025 budget figure includes $165,444,637 in operational expenses, which is up 6.5% over the previous year. Capital outlay is $267,160,803, a 63% increase over the previous year, and debt service is $49,592,800, a 10% year-over-year increase.
Spurgeon said the capital outlay budget reflects projects already in the life cycle, which includes roads, streets, sidewalks and utilities. “We have a very robust capital improvement program, which is needed to maintain our services and expand our community to accommodate the growth we’re experiencing,” Spurgeon says.
City officials have continued to bemoan the state’s reliance on the sales tax to fund municipal government. They noted that Broken Arrow is part of both Tulsa and Wagoner counties. Tulsa County charges 8.417% sales tax and Wagoner County 9.35%.
Of that, Broken Arrow receives 3.55% of the combined sales tax to fund public safety, streets, economic development initiatives, and more.
The police and fire departments receive 0.3%, the Sales Tax Capital Improvement Program (STCI) receives 0.5% and the Streets Fund receives 0.25%.
“Because of the tax model of the state, the city is in competition with other communities for the dollars available to generate sales tax,” Spurgeon says. “It’s important that we’re out trying to recruit new businesses, as well as getting new developers to reinvest as we make public investments.”
Spurgeon said City leaders will continue working with legislators to secure perpetual and more sustainable funding options.
“It’s tough when you have such an elastic form of revenue,” Spurgeon told the City Council this week. “We plan for today, but we’re always looking ahead to tomorrow. We provide services today, but we always try to ensure we have the resources and a plan to handle the growth coming to our community.”
A utility rate increase is projected in the 2025 budget and will be reviewed and possibly approved by the City Council in August or September.
The city says the increase is necessary due to the rising cost of goods and services essential to maintaining Broken Arrow’s utility infrastructure and helping fund capital improvement projects for the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Loan programs through the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. To view the budget in its entirety, go to BrokenArrowOK.gov/Finance.
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