Charter review postponed while City of Lawton focuses on budget

City Council members are postponing their review of the City Charter, saying they need to focus attention instead on massive problems facing the 2025-2026 city budget.

City Manager John Ratliff said Friday there is a $40 million difference between projected expenditures in next fiscal year’s budget and estimated revenues. Ratliff said there must be a lot of work done on the budget that city department heads began assembling in early January, as they work toward mandated deadlines to have the document approved and set into place when the fiscal year begins July 1.

Council members agreed with Ward 1 Councilwoman Mary Ann Hankins’ proposal to postpone the charter review, saying there was too much going on — to include what is expected to be numerous meetings on the city budget — to give that review its proper attention.

The review is postponed indefinitely, council members said.

Friday’s special meeting had been planned as the council’s discussion of points in the City Charter, which is city government’s guiding document for setting everything from council and mayoral duties, to defining the functions of city departments. Mayor Stan Booker said he has been collecting proposals about charter amendments, and Friday’s session was to have been the council discussion of those proposals before two public meetings to solicit input from the public. The goal had been a Sept. 9 election on those proposed amendments; while the council can propose changes, only voters can amend the charter.

Meetings will be rescheduled at a later time.

“There’s a lot of things going on,” Booker said, agreeing with Hankins’ proposal to postpone charter discussions until things have settled down.

Ratliff said city department heads began their budget work in early January, to discover that declining revenues are far short of what is needed to meet departmental budget requests for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. In particular, sales tax — one of the two largest revenue sources across the city and the largest source for operations — is down 4 percent this year.

“We have a lot of work ahead,” Ratliff said, of budget preparations.

Traditionally, the city manager and his staff craft a preliminary budget that is brought to the council in the spring for explanation and action during a series of special meetings, before council members vote it into effect after a public hearing for residential input. Ratliff said city officials will need to make many adjustments to get that document ready, calling the budget “the most important thing the council will do all year.”

Council members said that doesn’t mean the charter isn’t important, but the budget must take precedence.

“This is the ugliest budget I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, the council’s senior member, adding the council will be meeting numerous times in coming weeks to help make decisions.