Although Kingfisher city commissioners approved a fiscal year 20-21 budget that City Manager Dave Slezickey described as “slim” Monday night, the mood at the first in-person meeting since March was cautiously optimistic.

Slezickey, Mayor Steve Richards and commissioners Roxie Alexander, Tammy Mueggenborg, Wendell Prim and Bill Tucker were all present at the meeting.

Commisioners were seated at every other seat at the board table and Slezickey and City Attorney Jared Harrison and Clerk Brittney Hladik were seated separately, to provide for social distancing.

Commissioners unanimously approved a proposed budget of $15,672,027 for the new fiscal year which begins July 1, a 15.3% reduction from the $18,013,778 budget approved for the last fiscal year.

The budget does not include any staff cuts or salary reductions (city employees actually will receive a 2.5% cost of living adjustment, as well as a 5% incentive bonus distributed at Christmas) but capital improvement expenditures are limited, Slezickey said.

“I still feel like we’ll have a good year,” he said. “We’re faring a lot better than other communities and I think we’re going to recover a lot quicker.

“As that happens, we’ll come back with budget amendments (to recognize any additional revenues),” he said.

As approved, the budget does not anticipate utilizing any of the city’s $6 million reserves and is funded entirely through anticipated revenues of $15.672 million.

The report by City Treasurer Anita James on sales tax collections indicates Slezickey’s optimism that the city will remain economically sound may not be unfounded.

James said that although the most recent sales tax report indicates collections were down in comparison with last year, when the oil boom was still in full swing, current collections are in line with the previous year’s amounts.

“If you take out last year, we’re pretty much still on the same trajectory,” James said, noting that the most recent sales taxes received were based on April sales, the first full month of local business closures.

“We were still selling lots of groceries and toilet paper that month and that helped,” Slezickey said.

Commissioners also voted to terminate the city’s emergency declaration for the coronavirus pandemic and replacing it with a resolution of recommended guidelines as the city continues to reopen.

“We’re into Phase 3 with no problems and we believe it’s safe to terminate the emergency declaration and continue to proceed with caution,” Slezickey said. “We’re not saying everything is peachy fuzzy and you should get out and do everything exactly like you did before – although most people are doing that anyway,” Slezickey said.

Mueggenborg asked about whether masks should be required in businesses when more than 10 people are gathered.

“Any private business can institute its own policy requiring a mask,” Slezickey said. “We haven’t instituted that as a city requirement and we prefer to leave that up to individuals.”

Slezickey said that masks can be “problematic” for some people, such as those who are asthmatic or have other breathing problems.

“If you’re more comfortable wearing masks or you want to require them for your own business, that’s entirely up to you,” he said.

The resolution adopted includes rules for social distancing and cleanup for groups utilizing city facilities.

“We put the responsibility on the groups hosting events rather than trying to police individual actions,” Slezickey said. “[Under the approved resolution], events on public property can be terminated if those involved aren’t following guidelines.”

In other business, commissioners approved contracts for the use of office space in Memorial Hall with the Kingfisher County Drug Court and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Pardon and Parole Division.

Commissioners had voted at a previous meeting not to renew the drug court contract after the program had failed to pay the nominal rent for a number of months.

Slezickey said city staff contacted Associate District Judge Lance Schneiter, who was not aware of the arrearage and said it would be caught up.

“I think it was just a matter of something falling through the cracks in the transition to a new judge and then with everything else going on,” Slezickey said.

He also said DOC was balking at a rental increase from $100 to $500 per month but eventually agreed to the higher amount.

“They kept telling me about how much less office space cost in Oklahoma City, but after I suggested that maybe they could just move their office to Oklahoma City, they finally decided to renew their contract here,” he said.