City manager: No city employees will be furloughed during budget cuts

Jan. 25—"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Charles Dickens: "A Tale of Two Cities."

McAlester City Manager Dave Andren is adamant a series of cost-saving measures enacted after city revenues fell below the budgeted amount will not result in furloughing city employees.

Andren said he worked with city staff to cut the city budget by $440,000 on top of approximately $600,000 that has already been saved by spending reductions.

Cost-cutting measures he's put in place will not result in employees losing their jobs or being furloughed during the current fiscal year, Andren said.

"We will not under any circumstances be furloughing from now to the end of the year," said Andren.

He elaborated on that statement Wednesday.

"Nobody who currently works for us will see a furlough or a pink slip due to the current budget situation," Andren told the News-Capital.

He said some money is being saved through the implementation and continuation of a hiring freeze.

"We are continuing our hiring freeze that's been in effect since October," Andren said.

He outlined some of the cost-saving measures during the annual Mid-Year Budget Review during the Tuesday night city council meeting at City Hall, including reductions in spending.

Andren said the city team, which includes department heads, has "prioritized looking at things they need versus things they want."

McAlester Mayor John Browne indicated he thinks the budget-cutting measures may be misleading.

"We're on-track to have the second-best year we've ever had," Browne said, referring to General Fund sales tax revenue.

The General Fund sales tax revenue has been coming in below what is budgeted for the current 2023-2024 Fiscal Year.

While current tax revenues are falling below what was budgeted for the current fiscal year and also below the previous 2022-2023 Fiscal year, they are mostly — with the exception of one month — above the 2021-2022 Fiscal Year.

Andren said the current budget cuts are necessary because "We just over-budgeted."

Andren also elaborated on that statement Wednesday, saying the city numbers had been off by 1.8% on a $16 million budget.

Required by the McAlester City Charter, the Mid-Year Budget Review comes at midpoint in the city's 2023-2024 Fiscal Year, which runs from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

Some previously planned projects are being dropped or postponed to help reduce city expenditures.

"Most of it is projects we don't need to do now," Andren said.

Andren also noted the money that is being saved through the hiring freeze.

"We are continuing our hiring freeze that's been in effect since October," he said.

The city of McAlester is currently budgeted for 233 full-time employees for the current fiscal year.

As of December, 2023, there were 219 full-time employees with the city, Andren said. That's 14 fewer than budgeted.

Positions currently under a hiring freeze include the assistant city manager's position, along with one police officer and two positions with the McAlester Fire Department.

Other positions under the hiring freeze include one employee each in the following: receptionist, building inspector, communications/E911, fleet maintenance, streets and landfill, along with two utility maintenance positions and one part-time nutrition employee.

Despite the hiring freeze, some open positions are set to be filled, including four new employees at the city's water treatment plant, which will result in a total of nine employees at the site, Andren said.

He said the additional water treatment plant employees will be needed as the city transitions to take over handling of the water plant from Inframark, that has operated the plant on behalf of the city for nine years.

The four additional water treatment plant workers are to be hired in late March or early April.

Other positions that are currently remaining open include seasonal recreation workers, especially as more grass-mowing is required; more seasonal workers if the city opens its swimming pools, and seasonal cemetery positions, all to be evaluated as they become available.

Andren said he and city staff will continue to monitor the budget situation during the remainder of the fiscal year.