City Council OKs budget, puts project of resident on hold

Yahoo

2 days ago

The approval of a new budget, a rundown of the 2013 bond projects, and a balcony over a city right-of-way were discussed by the Tahlequah City Council during a meeting earlier this week.
The Council approved the FY2025-2026 budget at the June 3 meeting, and in the absence of Mayor Suzanne Myers, Treasurer Marty Hainzinger commented on the final numbers.
"This budget prioritizes all of the essential services such as public safety, infrastructure, community development, while holding all the operational spending in line with revenues," Hainzinger said.
A balance of $2,241,550 carried over from FY 2024-2025; projected revenue is $14,271,113, bringing the total available to appropriate to $16,512,663, states the budget summary. Projected expenses are $12,886,330 and total projected carryover is $3,626,333. A 10% carryover of reserves is $362,633; and a projected general fund total to appropriate for FY 2025-2026 is $16,190,758.
Before the budget was voted on, Ordinance No. 1389-2025 was considered and approved because of how the proposed ordinance could affect the budget, said City Administrator Taylor Tannehill.
"This is the second shot of this version of this ordinance; it is drastically different than what was proposed at the last meeting," Tannehill said. "The gist of it is in May of each year the finance director will certify projected revenues for next year and during budget time we would only appropriate 95% of those revenues into the next year's budget."
The remaining 5% would go to a stabilization fund and as that grows to 15% of any given year's projected revenues, the city would budget more than the 95%, Tannehill said.
City Attorney John Hammons clarified what the ordinance would do.
"We would build into the revenue stabilization fund until such time as the revenue stabilization fund reaches 15%; thereafter, that 5% would be allocated to a special cash fund and that could be allocated for whatever purpose the City Council found to be appropriate," Hammons said.
Dr. John Uzzo compiled a list of projects proposed for completion with the 2013 bond and asked the city to comment on their progress. Tannehill said all have been completed, are funded or are in the works.
"There were 20 projects listed on the ballot to be completed, and of those 20, it's safe to say that 17 have been completed," Tannehill said. "One of the three remaining is South Muskogee, so we anticipate that wrapping up later this year."
Two other projects not completed from that bond issue are the North Grand Road project and the East Allen Road project, Tannehill said.
"Each one of the 20 items there [has had money spent on them]," Tannehill said. "The money spent on East Allen Road and North Grand has been engineering, and we are currently doing right-of-way acquisitions for East Allen Road and will continue to see those expenditures rise in those columns as we proceed."
Ward 1 City Councilor Danny Perry asked if there was a timeline for completion of the construction on South Muskogee.
"When we had the bridge change order that [timeline] was about eight weeks from that time, and it's been two or three weeks since then," Tannehill said.
On May 30, the manhole relocation and construction of a sewer line under the bridge next to Lowry's Discount Furniture was almost complete. The crew was finishing up the project and the cones and traffic barriers were being pulled back.
James Murray and Kenna Beckett, owners of property at 334 N. Muskogee Ave., presented a request to the Council to build a balcony over city right-of-way over a sidewalk along Morgan Street, across from Norris Park.
Tannehill said Murray approached the city to do this project but no decision was made. A few weeks later, Tannehill sent an email to Murray that there was interest in the project, and Murray took it to the Board of Adjustment for a variance, which was not authorized.
"The city does allow for the construction in the city of right-of-way with the Council's blessing; that's why this is before you today," Hammons said. "I've had numerous conversations with the applicant and we have a draft version of the agreement, which largely meets with my approval."
Hammons said a policy provision in the agreement, on which he had no position, is the nature of termination of the agreement if it was approved by the council.
Ward 3 City Councilor Stephen Highers said the council was not voting on whether the balcony could be built or not, but whether the mayor is allowed to negotiate an agreement with the property owners. Murray had submitted a packet explaining the project, with examples of other businesses in that same area that had balconies and bollards to stop traffic from crashing into the buildings.
Murray said they have spent $50,000 on improvements that didn't need approval and plan to put another $50,000 into it if the city approved their request.
"We are trying to make this consistent with the rest of the area, and from my property, I can throw a rock and hit three of them that have posts in the sidewalk," Murray said. "And I'm just asking to let me do that as well."
Hammons said the only thing left for him was the policy question that the Council needed to address – that it not remove the structure within five years.
Highers said this project is what Tahlequah is looking for, which is bringing investment and housing downtown.
The item was approved, but with a caveat initiated by Ward 2 City Councilor Keith Baker – that the couple return to the next Council meeting with a revised agreement that reflects the time period the "license" with the city for these changes could be revoked, if needed.
After the meeting, Murray and Beckett expressed their frustration at the numerous delays in the city's giving approval.
Karen Murphy, communications and marketing director for the city of Tahlequah, said after the meeting that the administration wanted to make a statement for publication by TDP on the matter.
"The city is excited to work with this couple and really pleased with the improvements that have been done," Murphy said. "We apologize for the frustration and understand it, but we want to make sure we are doing our due diligence and going through the right steps."
Murphy said Myers is ready to start the negotiations as soon as possible.
"It is frustrating, but the city has to do what's right," Murphy said. "If there is concern about safety, we just want to make sure we are protecting our citizens and their property."
What's next
The next Tahlequah City Council meeting is July 7, 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at the City Administration Building.