City Budget Surplus

[ljbab728]

What to do, what to do.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-coun...rticle/3685595

[Snowman]

Didn't they just have a presentation a month or two ago that wee need to start planning for the extra costs of the police/fire jobs that were added back recently on a grant that will only only be available over a limited time frame.

[JohnH_in_OKC]

If OKC is going to live up to its big league city mantra, we've got to establish Sunday bus service. Our disabled and economically disadvantaged folk NEED this service. We citizens have a responsibility to take care of each other.

[kevinpate]

I was surprised the cost to add 52 additional days of bus service was so high.

[Larry OKC]

How much is it? I wouldn't be surprised too much if you are talking about adding Sunday service to all routes, that means more gas, maint., employees and associated expenses. If we are talking only about limited routes, then costs can be mitigated but they will still be there.

[kevinpate]

Larry the DOK article says adding Sunday service for a year is 1.47 million, or slightly more than the 1.3 million available surplus (the balance to come from other funds, at least initially.)

[ljbab728]

Let's think about this for a little longer.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-coun...dline_politics

[Spartan]

Shadid was suggesting that elimination of the NW Expressway routes (trying to push consolidating the service area) could provide funding for service for the folks who need it more.

[Cocaine]

Yeah if they do add Sunday service they may have to not do it on all route's. I didn't think it would cost that much either.

[Plutonic Panda]

Fix the capitol!

[rcjunkie]

[QUOTE=JohnH_in_OKC;548193]If OKC is going to live up to its big league city mantra, we've got to establish Sunday bus service. Our disabled and economically disadvantaged folk NEED this service. We citizens have a responsibility to take care of each other.[/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more, however, if you want to help, do it by donating your time and/money, the City can't continue pouring money into something that loses millions each year.

[rcjunkie]

Fix the capitol!

But my friend, the Capitol is a State building, not a City building.

[Snowman]

Fix the capitol!

Plus the capital needs like 160 million (if they stay on budget)

[SOUTHSIDE GIRL]

Fix the out laying streets coming into downtown, along with neighboorhood streets. Some have just been patched and repatched for years.

[1972ford]

spend 50k on disc golf baskets for 5 new courses on city land and contact me or the disc golf association for the labor in installing them. if they really want bang for the buck we could raise matching funds within a year

[Plutonic Panda]

But my friend, the Capitol is a State building, not a City building.

Yeah I your right I just think that the capitol needs repaired BAD.
It's an embrassment.

[rcjunkie]

Fix the out laying streets coming into downtown, along with neighboorhood streets. Some have just been patched and repatched for years.

1.3 million will rebuild about 1/2 mile of a major 4 lane street.

[JohnH_in_OKC]

I couldn't agree more, however, if you want to help, do it by donating your time and/money, the City can't continue pouring money into something that loses millions each year.

You forget that our police and fire departments have never paid for themselves. They are necessary civic services. Public transportation for the poor, the disabled, the eco-smart and the retired (like myself) is also a necessary civic service/responsibility and will never come close to paying for itself. In fact, if we had to pay for our streets and highways ourselves, we would still be driving on dirt roads! EVERY highway would be a turnpike. Every bridge would charge a toll. Our roads don't pay for themselves -- our taxes do.

I do have an insured car, but I try to split my transportation costs with our OKC public transit service. A bus ride often takes twice as long to get to your destination, but bus and trolley rides can be a fun adventure, save big bucks, and eliminate cars & pollution from our roads. I have traveled by public transit--subway, train, trolley, & bus all over Europe, Eastern Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, the U.S. and North Africa. (I also lived in Europe for 3 years.)

Our international visitors have said terrible things about Oklahoma City's public transit. (Our downtown free trolley service, however, gets rave reviews from our national & international visitors.)

Oklahoma City has a responsibility to all its citizens and to our national & international visitors to provide public transit, not only because every other major city in the world does this, but because it is the right thing to do.

John Hite, retired, Oklahoma City resident & public transit supporter

[ljbab728]

Well said, John. The city simply can't make spending decisions only on what makes or loses money. How much direct income does the city make on the millions they spend for road improvements?

[Spartan]

If OKC is going to live up to its big league city mantra, we've got to establish Sunday bus service. Our disabled and economically disadvantaged folk NEED this service. We citizens have a responsibility to take care of each other.

I couldn't agree more, however, if you want to help, do it by donating your time and/money, the City can't continue pouring money into something that loses millions each year.

So why don't we just get rid of Metro Transit altogether. I think Lima, Peru provides a good model we can follow after ditching public transit, where if any Joe (or Jose) owns a van he can privately run public transit sans any safety or efficiency standards whatsoever. Deregulate, privatize, kick the poor to the curb, right?



Maybe some churches would be so kind to run their vans up and down the busier bus corridors, like 23rd.

[betts]

Do we have the money to extend the canal? I haven't noticed any progress on that front, and wondered if it was due to budget issues. The quiet zone might be nice too. As I've said, I don't care for myself, but I'm sure the threat of train noise is offputting to some. Those are things I'd like to see done, although the fair thing would be to say it should go to the transit department.

[Snowman]

Do we have the money to extend the canal? I haven't noticed any progress on that front, and wondered if it was due to budget issues. The quiet zone might be nice too. As I've said, I don't care for myself, but I'm sure the threat of train noise is offputting to some. Those are things I'd like to see done, although the fair thing would be to say it should go to the transit department.

If you mean the extension between the canal and the river yes from the 2007 bonds, they have still been working on finalizing the proposal for bids over the last few months, other than that I am not aware of any in the budget for canal extension.

[Larry OKC]

Betts: are you talking about the proposed Canal extension that they tried to get included in MAPS 3? That was estimated to run around $25 million IIRC. Speaking of which, Blair had mentioned a while back there was a good chunk of money in need of a project, whatever happened with that?

[Snowman]

no, I was talking about the part that goes under i40. Even though it is called Zone G of the canal, it is actually extending the river and trails to the canal.

[king183]

Why would we spend this one-time surprlus on recurring costs, like Sunday bus service (that precisely 7 people will use) or more police (who I assume will be on the job more than one year)? That's irresponsible fiscal planning. If you want to expand bus service or add police, then you need to put it in the operating budget.

Since this is one-time money, we should use it for a one-time expenditure or put it into a reserve fund. The quiet zone on the railroad tracks that was needed for development; putting it back into P180 to finish it as originally planned; fast-tracking the conversion of Hudson and Walker to two-way streets; extending the canal; put it towards another mile of streetcar tracks; ensuring the new parking garage has enough money to do it right-- any of these are better ideas than using it for ongoing, recurring expenditures.