Cleveland County Budget Board Approves FY2026/2027 Estimates and Fund Transfers on May 26, 2026
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Cleveland County Budget Board Meeting - May 26, 2026
The Cleveland County Budget Board met on May 26, 2026 at 10:30 AM in Norman, OK to consider the FY2026/2027 Estimate of Needs, several resolutions, numerous fund transfers, error corrections, and updates. The board approved minutes from April 27, 2026 and heard no public comments. After presentations from department heads, the board accepted the estimate of needs (not a final budget approval) and approved resolutions for capital reserve and surplus allocations, along with multiple fund transfers and error corrections.
Discussion Items
- FY2026/2027 Estimate of Needs: County Clerk presented a budget of $2,669,600.04 (general fund) with a 2.64% increase in payroll. Assessor requested $1,933,496 (general fund, ~5% increase) and $2,271,482 for the revaluation fund. District commissioners presented flat or reduced budgets. Sheriff's budget was flat at 4.4% increase? Actually transcript says "point four percent" and "almost flat". Election Board budget increase due to potential extra election. Fairgrounds budget increased due to new building and personnel. IT budget increased by $200,000 including a new position. Emergency Management budget down $7,305. OSU Extension flat with minor increase. Purchasing budget increase $6,551. The board discussed tax revenue, property tax caps, and reimbursement mechanisms.
- Resolutions: Three resolutions were approved: (1) Minimum allocation of $17 million to General Fund Capital Reserve Carry-over Account. (2) Allocation of excess surplus to Capital Reserve Fund 200200. (3) Allocation of excess surplus to Rainy Day Fund 250200.
- Fund Transfers: Approved transfers for District #3 ($34,000), Sheriff's Office (items 8 and 9: $100,000 for detention M&O and $49,000 for radios), Assessor (items 10-13: $35,000 for furniture/computers, $31,500 for appraiser equipment, $48,000 for postage, and a reval capital outlay transfer), Building Maintenance ($35,000 for a truck), Election Board (items 16-17: $40,000 for M&O and $10,000 for travel), and Court Judges ($3,000 for contract services). Item 7 (Sheriff conference transfer) was struck as a duplicate of a previous approval.
- Error Corrections: The board approved corrections to move interest earnings from various grant accounts to the General Fund due to a State Auditor rule change: $8,920.71 from Emergency Rental Assistance Grant 2, $5,438.05 from Emergency Rental Assistance Grant 1, $3,138,396.81 from American Rescue Plan Act 2021, and $108.11 from Coronavirus Relief Fund. Several duplicate items (21,22,24) were struck.
- Election Board Error Correction: An additional correction was approved for the Election Board (item 26) transferring $108.11? Actually that was item 25. Item 26 was another error correction for the Election Board (transfer between accounts) approved.
- Updates: Employee Benefits Committee reported no update. Infrastructure Committee announced a meeting on June 2. George Mauldin, Safety & Emergency Management Director, presented a budget decrease of $7,305.
Key Outcomes
- Estimate of Needs Accepted: The board voted unanimously (7-0) to accept the FY2026/2027 Estimate of Needs (not a final budget approval; public hearing required later).
- Resolutions Approved: All three resolutions passed unanimously.
- Fund Transfers: Items 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 approved. Item 7 struck.
- Error Corrections: Items 19, 20, 25, 26 approved; items 21, 22, 24 struck as duplicates; item 23? The ARPA correction (item 21/23) appears to have been approved (motion and vote for $3,138,396.81).
- Executive Session: The board entered executive session to discuss employment of Purchasing Agent Keri Lyles per 25 O.S. § 307(B)(1). No action reported.
- Adjournment: Meeting adjourned after executive session.
Note: The transcript is partially garbled; some amounts and item numbers were clarified by cross-referencing the agenda.
Meeting Transcript
Yeah, discussion possible action regarding one minutes for April point seven, one point. I'll make a motion to a motion. Excuse Yes. Yes. How it yes? Yes. Cleveland. I Williams. Yes. Richard. Yes. Mission carry. Uh public comment. No one signed up. Items of the business. Uh item number two discussion possible action regarding review. That's completely that part six seven. I think it's right. Okay, Cough. Um court clerk's office is requesting two million two hundred and eighty-two thousand four hundred and sixty-three dollars and eighty-seven cents. It's a significant increase over last year. Um when comparing the county numbers, I have twenty-two employees to make another forty thousand and those twenty-two employees to forty thousand dollars and then raises for everyone else, significantly smaller for everyone else, but those were my big ones. Um in that I also included um painting of some of the office. Uh anything we may do need in the office collections have gone significantly down over the last two years based on legislation that's occurred. So typically we bring in about a hundred thousand, hundred and twenty thousand on our M and O, and that's been reduced significantly. So my budget. Any questions? Okay. Sure. I'm gonna present the county clerk's general fund, the equalization board and the audit. The auditors, so the county clerks, our total brand is gonna be two million six hundred and sixty-nine sixteen hundred dollars and four cents. Um this will include I have decided this year I'm going to do my um personal performance bonuses, it's going to go into out of my cash, my capital outlay cash and my uh to okay. Travel, capital outlay, and performance is all kind of come out of my cash accounts this year. Um I moved over and in my um in my budget. I have put in I think my budget's a little bit different than it was last year, not much difference, but there's a little bit of an increase, and that's because I have the newness in the grandness in my personal services with all of the help that we have people coming in and helping us get this program going smoothly. It's just you know, we've had to have to allow for that. Um a vacant position that I have that I need to fill, and then I have um a payout for one retirement and put it in that um that's pretty much it for my budget. Um we have the equalization board's budget, it's just the flat twelve thousand dollars, and that's just kind of what it's always. Um that's for the fees, and then we have the auditors, and that is a set amount at 285,420. Okay, yeah. Uh Commissioner Brissom, do you want to have a excuse me, take it? Go ahead. So on your general fund, you're actually lowering it, correct? Yes. So it's actually going down. I'm looking at the summer sheet on the front here. It shows where you're uh 112,000 or so. Yes. But it doesn't show that it's a loss and they got problems. Right.
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