City manager Leroy Alsup had multiple updates for the Watonga City Council March 17 during the regular season.
He outlined the upcoming budget calendar for the members, so that all the necessary discussions are held timely, allowing for the budget to be adopted by the June deadline.
The outline includes a budget workshop on May 19, which allows for a second workshop June 2 if needed, followed by publication of the notice on June 10. That notice will publicize the public hearing on June 16, where residents can voice opinions on the budget. Adoption could follow on that date, or there could be a special meeting scheduled for June 23.
Alsup also updated the two water projects going on in town. One bit of information was that to complete the project, about $1.5 million worth of work remains to be done.
The loan to the city from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board was some $13 million, while the contract was $15.275 million, meaning the city had to come up with the difference, more than $2 million.
The loan proceeds were banked and earned interest of $1.29 million between the closing and the time the first payments were made, but the Internal Revenue Service came calling with its hand out. The city had to remit $132,000 to the IRS on the interest earned, leaving the city to come up with $1.14 million for the projects and footing the bill for the engineering on the projects, bringing the total to the city to $2.1 million. That money is from the city’s operating funds.
The city had been awarded a direct spending provision of $2 million in 2023 by then U.S. Senator from Oklahoma Jim Inhofe. He left the senate that year and passed away in 2024.
The money was originally to assist with building the water treatment plant, but because that project was already underway when the direct spending provision arrived, it was instead headed toward replacing pipes in town.
It could be used, Alsup said, to offset the money the city has fronted from the operating fund to the water and waste water treatment projects, but it has to be handled appropriately.
That would mean meeting the costs of the engineering by use of a cost-share waiver. This is permissible because it is still part of the water project.
A second option is to use the money for specific water project equipment such as pumps, not including the labor costs to install the equipment. Labor costs are a prohibited expense.
A third option is to use the money for water line replacements, shut off valves and fire hydrants.
Alsup is exploring all three options and will bring the information back to the council at a later date.
He did point out, though, that there are still direct spending provisions – sometimes referred to as earmarks – to be had from the federal government. He suggested that the council begin preparing plans and budgets for wished for projects so that they could be presented to the sitting representatives and senators when the request window opens in January 2027.