City leaders consider hiring freeze as Oklahoma City's budget enters $8M hole

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — As the fiscal year comes to a close, city leaders say Oklahoma City's budget is in a bind.

In this week's city council meeting, City Manager Craig Freeman said the metro's finances have hit a wall.

"The fact that we're eight million dollars below target at this point of the year leads us to believe we need to start making some adjustments," said Freeman.

Christian York, the city Budget Director said part of the problem was certain grocery stores failing to collect local taxes. However, he said that's only a portion of a bigger issue.

"The taxes that we pay when we purchase things within Oklahoma City are down in general. They've been lagging projections," said York.

When people make purchases within the metro, the local portion of taxes go back to the city. This allows the city to fund projects like improving roads, etc.

York said adjustments could include a hiring freeze, but other options are also on the table.

"We would look at things like delaying fleet replacement purchases, deferring capital maintenance where we can," York said.

When city leaders approved the budget for 2024, York said they expected revenue to grow by two percent, but instead, city revenue is down three percent.

Despite the downward trend, Freeman said he's hoping the city's finances can bounce back.

Freeman said, "We're in a very good position to be able to manage this but we want to make sure that we're doing it prudently to set us up to be prepared for next years budget."