LAWTON – One week after rejecting one budget proposal for fiscal year 2025-26, the Comanche County Excise Board signed off on a different spending plan.
The Excise Board voted 3-0 Sept. 29 to approve Comanche County Commissioner Johnny Owens’ budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, also known as an estimate of needs. The vote came about two hours after the Board of Comanche County Commissioners unanimously approved Owens’ proposal and sent it to the Excise Board for consideration.
The Excise Board’s newest member, Brent Easton, was sworn into office at the start of the meeting. After Easton was sworn in, he voted to approve the estimate of needs along with Chairman J.P. Richard and board member Dustin Glover.
Owens’ proposal was the product of discussions among Owens; Owens’ first deputy, Corinne Owensby; County Clerk Carrie Tubbs; and Richard, Richard said.
“If I’m not mistaken, we are balanced,” he said. “Not everybody got 100% of what they wanted, but most everybody got pretty close or (their) full request.”
Richard said the state auditor determined that the county would likely have more money to spend in FY 2025-26 than officials had anticipated, which gave them more latitude in making spending decisions. Spending plans Owens had proposed a $12 million budget for FY 202526, which was an increase of about $926,000 from the county’s $11.07 million budget for the previous fiscal year.
The Excise Board approved Owens’ proposal one week after the board voted Sept. 22 to reject a different spending plan from Comanche County Commissioner Ryan John, who had recommended keeping spending on public offices flat for the coming fiscal year. John’s proposal was designed to free up additional dollars for operating the Comanche County Detention Center, which sends some inmates to out-of-town jails in a bid to relieve overcrowding.
The county commission voted 2-1 Sept. 22 to approve John’s proposed estimate of needs. Owens and John voted for the plan, while Commission Chairman Josh Powers voted against it.
Powers said he objected to John’s proposal because it took money away from key offices that needed those dollars for their daily operations.
“He had not spoken to several of the affected directors and cut their budgets without consulting them about how it would impact their offices,” Powers said in an Oct. 3 email to a Southwest Ledger reporter. “Some of his proposals also had effects beyond the dollar amount he reduced. For example, Comanche County and the City of Lawton split certain budgets 50/50. So when Commissioner John reduced the county’s share, it actually doubled the reduction since the City would lower its portion to match. Had he consulted with all offices and directors before making this proposal, he would have known that.”
Powers said during a previous commissioners’ meeting on the budget, John said he had spoken to everyone affected by the budget, and all offices approved his proposed reductions. “Shortly after, I was notified by multiple offices that this was not true — they had not been consulted and did not support the cuts,” Powers said. “It appears Commissioner John may have only spoken to elected officials and left out directors who oversee critical offices such as Emergency Management and the Juvenile Bureau.
“While I appreciate his effort to make changes he thought would benefit the county, his lack of understanding — and the omission of key individuals — would have negatively affected the core services we provide to our constituents. The jail situation remains a top priority for all commissioners, but I believe it would benefit the county more if Commissioner John focused on pursuing a permanent solution rather than temporary band-aids already put in place by Commissioner Owens and myself.”
Powers said he preferred Owens’ budget proposal because it provided more funding for public offices than John’s plan had, while still holding some money back for additional jail operations if necessary.
“While Owens’ proposal did not fully fund the offices at the level I would have preferred, it did provide a significant increase compared to Commissioner John’s plan,” Powers said.
He added: “While I am conservative by nature and committed to limiting government growth, I also recognize the importance of ensuring that our existing offices are adequately funded. The men and women who keep county government running each day deserve our full support.”
John did not respond to an email requesting comment before press time.
Excise Board vote The commission’s Sept. 22 vote sent John’s proposal to the Excise Board, which consisted at the time of Richard and board member Dustin Glover because Easton had not been sworn in yet. Richard and Glover both voted to reject the proposal.
Richard opposed John’s spending plan, in part, because it boosted funding for the jail at the expense of other county offices, Richard said in an interview following the Sept. 29 Excise Board meeting.
“I didn’t think he had the right to arbitrarily put the onus of funding the jail on the backs of the employees in this courthouse,” Richard said.
Richard said he also disliked John’s proposal because the Excise Board did not have enough time to review it before the Sept. 22 vote. He said he favored Owens’ version because it balanced the books, met statutory requirements and provided more funding for the Juvenile Bureau, the sheriff’s office and the court clerk’s office.
“Those are people who serve the taxpayers, and I don’t want to cut back on what they do,” he said. “Because the jail issue is totally separate from that.”
Richard said he was already familiar with Owens’ proposal because he had worked with other county officials to develop it. Next steps Now that the county commission and the Excise Board have approved the estimate of needs, it will be sent to the county’s budget preparer to compile a formal version, said County Clerk Carrie Tubbs. That version will be presented to the commission and the Excise Board for their consideration.
Once Tubbs’ office receives budget proposals from other entities – including school districts, municipalities and Great Plains Technology Center – they will be presented to the Excise Board for approval. After the Excise Board signs off on those proposals, Tubbs’ office will compile a tax levy sheet, certify levies for the county and submit all budgets and certified levies to the state auditor.
After the state auditor receives that information, a 10-day protest period will begin, Tubbs said. If the state auditor does not find any problems with the information, the auditor will issue a letter announcing the end of the protest period.
The announcement will give Tubbs’ office the green light to input tax levies for the coming year and print tax statements, Tubbs said.