The City of Tulsa's ability to respond in creative ways to the current fiscal crisis is severely limited by the city's obligations to city employee unions, according to a recent analysis by City Council Policy Administrator Jack Blair. In response to a query by outgoing District 5 Councilor Bill Martinson, Blair examined nearly 300 pages of contracts, memoranda of understanding (MOUs), and arbitration decisions between the City and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 176, Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 93, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1180, Labor and Trades Unit and Airport Officers Unit.

The hindrance imposed by these agreements on the City's fiscal flexibility is not just a matter of guaranteed salary and benefit levels, according to Blair:

Beyond matters of compensation and employee benefits, however, there are aspects of the contracts and MOUs that appear to cede the City‟s autonomy to make public policy decisions or manage the organization. While each agreement contains a reservation of management rights, the substance of the current agreements suggests that bargaining units may view any action that would negatively affect their department‟s budget as a negotiable matter, even policy or management decisions, such as department organization, staffing levels, and resource allocations.

I have reviewed the current documents and noted a few examples in each that might be viewed as restricting the City‟s discretion to implement policy or management changes – as distinct from compensation or benefit reductions – in response to further revenue declines.

A few examples:

• The agreement with the Fire Fighters union requires the city to add five more two-person emergency medical services (EMS) squads through FY2012.
• The City can't unilaterally change the police department's squad car take-home policy, because an arbitrator has ruled that the policy is an employee benefit and subject to collective bargaining, despite a city ordinance to the contrary.
• Contracts with AFSCME require paying severance based on seniority when an employee is laid off or a position is eliminated.

Here are PDFs of Blair's memo and the contractual documents between the City and the unions:

City of Tulsa Collective Bargaining Budget Constraints (289 KB PDF)

City of Tulsa collective bargaining agreements with International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 176 (1.4 MB PDF)

City of Tulsa collective bargaining agreements with Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 93 (1.7 MB PDF)

City of Tulsa collective bargaining agreements with AFSCME Local 1180 (5.5 MB PDF)

City revenues in September dropped by 9.8% over the same month in the previous year and expenditures and expenses by 10.4%, according to the September 2009 monthly financial report from the City of Tulsa Finance Department. Drops in building permits, air passenger traffic, barge tonnage have amplified the fiscal impact of the slowdown in consumer spending. Tulsa metro area unemployment increased to 7.1% in August. "Local indicators are still consistent with national trends and signal a sustained economic decline. There has been a leveling out of the national economic indicators but these effects have yet to be realized in the TMSA."

Each month, the City of Tulsa Finance Department issues a report on the state of the city's spending, revenues, and economic factors that affect both. The report includes a consolidated statement of operations, a report of economic indicators, charts showing estimated vs. actual revenues, a revenue report for major funds, a status report on capital improvement funds, financial statements for the general fund and the water, sewer, trash, and stormwater funds, and the airport, and reports on personal services spending, overtime, headcount, sinking fund expenditures, and investments.

The monthly financial reports are posted on the City of Tulsa website, with an archive going back to February 2002, although a number of reports since February 2006 have not been posted. For your convenience, here are reports for the most recent two months:

City of Tulsa Monthly Financial Report, August 2009
City of Tulsa Monthly Financial Report, September 2009

You will need Adobe Reader to view these reports, which are in PDF format.

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To my Friends, Neighbors and Constituents,

Thank you for the honor and privilege to serve as District 4 City Councilor these past eighteen months.  I congratulate the newly elected Council in general and Maria Barnes specifically for winning last Tuesday’s vote.  As I have offered to Mrs. Barnes, I will continue to do all that I can to help her and this city.

It is no secret that Tulsa faces extreme challenges.  The City Council and Administration is no longer cutting fat out of the budget; we’ve done that.  Tulsa now faces possible amputation of many public service appendages.  There are no easy answers or painless reductions in the costs of delivering public service in this current economy.

I congratulate Dewey Bartlett on his victory as mayor.  I hope the new council will work in cooperation with the mayor in all endeavors.  Tulsa’s tough times we must face together as we have always done.  The charitable, hopeful, and positive spirit of our people has always overcome whatever boom or bust economic cycle we’ve experienced and we will do so again.

During my entire adult life I have worked very hard and during my term as city councilor that was true as well.  The next council must do as we did and roll up their sleeves and do the same.  Through hard work, education and promotion it is now dramatically demonstrated that downtown is an important growing neighborhood and a significant economic engine for Northeastern Oklahoma.  A councilor from District 4 can never again say, “Downtown does not exist in my world, it is not a neighborhood.”  Public attendance at the BOK Center and growing residential housing are just two indications of public engagement and support for downtown – one of several unique interactive neighborhoods like Cherry Street, Florence Park and others that keep the urban heart of Metropolitan Tulsa vibrant.

I appreciate the voters who came to the polls but think it is appalling that during these challenging economic times less than half of those eligible came out to participate in our representative democracy.  I have learned much and met so many good neighbors during my term that I will be forever grateful to have been so gifted with the privilege to serve this city.  I have no regrets and look forward to continued participation in public issues wherever God may lead.  Thank you again.

Eric Gomez

Tulsa City Councilor, District 4