LAWTON –The City Council recently approved the annual municipal budget, and the distribution of hotel/ motel tax receipts, for Fiscal Year 2025-26.
The budget outlines the City's anticipated revenues and expenses for the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) “and serves as the financial roadmap for the city's operations and projects,” City Manager John Ratliff said.
Finance Director Rebecca Johnson and Ratliff calculated that City Hall’s financial resources for the FY26 will be $1.092 billion.That total includes an estimated $478.9 million in carryover from FY25 and FY26 revenues projected to be $613.1 million. Expenditures in the coming year are estimated to total $655.9 million.
The projected carryover at the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2026, will be a little over $436 million. In comparison, the fund balance on July 1 this year is estimated to be almost $479 million.
Department operating budgets for the coming year include:
• Managerial (City Council, city manager, city clerk, communications and marketing, plus arts and humanities: 28 full-time positions), $6,300,240.
• Human Resources (9 fulltime positions), $945,905.
• Legal (12 employees), $2,271,606.
• Finance (21 employees), $12,518,559.
• Information Technology Services (12 positions), $7,952,523.
• Public Utilities (water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, meter services: 117 employees), $24,760,389.
• Police Department (236 full-time positions), $26,785,720.
• Fire Department (151 full-time positions), $18,005,260.
• Public Works (stormwater management, drainage maintenance, streets and traffic control, solid waste collection and disposal, electronic maintenance, equipment management: 120 full-time employees), $17,126,025.
• Emergency Communications (38 employees), $4,213,428.
• Community Enrichment (merger of Community Services and Parks & Recreation departments, including park maintenance, building maintenance, neighborhood services, administrative services, housing and community development, cemetery, lakes, recreation, aquatics, Museum of the Great Plains, housing assistance, code enforcement, and retired and senior volunteer program: 85 full-time employees), $15,936,570.
• Planning (6 employees), $1,970,850.
• Engineering (10 employees), $1,229,117.
• Library (13 positions), $1,403,765.
• Municipal Court (8 positions), $730,097.
Several departments (police and fire, engineering, public utilities, human resources, legal, and the library) got a haircut. Others (finance and municipal court, for example) received modest budget increases, while the budgets for IT and planning more than doubled.
The City Council also adopted a hotel/motel tax distribution scheduled for FY 2026.
From projected revenues of $2,739,248, the council allocated $823,190 (30.05%) to the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce, $500,000 (18.25%) to the Hotel/Motel Economic Development Fund, $489,527 (17.87%) to Tourism, $450,000 (16.43%) to the Lawton-Fort Sill Economic Development Corp., $329,071 (12.01%) to Hotel/ Motel Lodging Tax Reimbursement, and $147,460 (5.38%) to the Lawton Enhancement Trust Authority.
The Tourism allocation will be distributed in the following manner:
• Fireworks display, $140,000.
• Museum of the Great Plains, $75,000.
• Juneteenth observance, $20,000.
• Lawton Philharmonic, $40,000.
• Lawton Community Theater, $25,000.
• Lawton Heritage Association, $25,000.
• FISTA, $25,887.
• McMahon Auditorium Authority, $50,000.
• Lawton Farmers Market, $50,100.
• Holiday in the Park, $38,540.