City Council adopts FY-2027 Budget

The Broken Arrow City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2027 Municipal Budget, with total planned expenditures of $487,039,048, at its June 15 meeting.

The budget is a blueprint that establishes the city's financial priorities, guides service levels based on available resources, and operates on a fiscal year budget cycle from July 1 through June 30.

"The City Council and the administration's top priority remains the development of a municipal budget that meets community expectations while remaining financially stable," City Manager Michael Spurgeon said.

Key components of the city's budget include:

• Operational Expenses-$194,629,027 (increased $13,481,217 or 7.4 percent)
• Capital Outlay-$242,723,658 (increased $11,964,225 or 5.2 percent)
• Debt Services-$49,686,733 (increased $7,593,477 or 18.04 percent)

This budget is 7.28 percent higher than FY 2026, representing an increase of $33,038,919 over last year. The capital outlay and debt service costs are the primary drivers of this increase, reflecting the Council's commitment to maintaining the quality of life in Broken Arrow by investing in public infrastructure improvements.

Budget challenges include flat sales tax trends, a state-mandated reliance on sales taxes to fund city operations, inflation driving up the cost of goods and services, and current supply chain availability. The city does not have access to property tax revenue for general fund operations.

"The only thing we use property taxes for is to pay for general obligation bonds that the voters approve," Spurgeon said. "By state constitution, the city is not allowed to receive any funds from property taxes."

Broken Arrow's efforts remain guided by the vision, mission, and commitment to achieving results through five organizational priorities:

1. Public Safety and the community's overall well-being.
2. Economic Development focused on growth and prosperity.
3. Innovative municipal operations.
4. Fiscal sustainability and strategic public investment, including a capital improvement program.
5. Transparency and communications.

"For us, for our community and our priorities, I'm proud to say only 40 percent of our budget is for operations," Spurgeon said. "The rest is to expand the infrastructure that we have in our community."

The other 60 percent of the budget is allocated to capital outlay, with 50 percent going toward Capital Improvements, which include road, stormwater, and parks and recreation improvements, as well as public safety, and debt service.

The FY 2027 Municipal Budget includes Public Safety allocations for the completion of Fire Station #8 in northeast Broken Arrow and the build-out of the Broken Arrow Police Department's Real Time Information Center. Roughly $27 million in additional funds have been committed to improving the city's water utility infrastructure, including replacing antiquated water and sewer lines and improvements to the water treatment and wastewater plants.

Expanding tourism is another focus of the budget, achieved through the Film Incentive Program and by attracting conferences and events. These activities increase hotel stays and generate revenue for local businesses. Tourism-driven revenue growth helps the city fund services, as higher sales tax collections from tourism-related spending support essential municipal operations and amenities in Broken Arrow.