All fees associated with City of Lawton services, from obtaining a building permit to paying your utility bill, will be going up 15 percent July 1.
The City Council signed off on the increases Tuesday, as members put the finishing touches on the budget that will guide the fiscal year that begins July 1. City Manager Michael Cleghorn told the council that the budget it approved May 24 was predicated on the revenues to be generated by that 15 percent increase. He said without council approval, city administrators would have to "go back and look at just about everything," in terms of balancing departmental spending against anticipated revenues.
Council members voted 5-3 Tuesday to grant the city staff's request for the 15 percent increase. While initially city officials had been looking at 15 percent for utility charges (water, sewer refuse), during their budget workshops council members directed staff to increase all fees charged by the city by 15 percent. Some of those fees actually will be increasing by more than 15 percent (to better cover the cost of providing a service, administrators said) while others are new (a proposal the council also approved Tuesday will implement annual city licenses for medical marijuana businesses operating in Lawton).
Cleghorn, Finance Director Joe Don Dunham and department heads have said the rate increases are vital if the city is to keep providing the same level of service, because expenditures critical to city operations cost more because of dramatic increases in costs of materials and transportation. Cleghorn and Dunham said it also is important to provide enough revenue to supplement the city's emergency fund, a fund that allows for unexpected expenditures.
Not everyone was happy with the council's decision, including residents who listened to discussion during the Lawton Water Authority (where utility rate increases were approved). Most of those residents had left the council chambers by the time the council voted to verify what it had done as the Lawton Water Authority, while also raising all other city fees.
Alberto Rivas, noting he was speaking on behalf of numerous residents who asked him to do so, urged the council to consider lower-income residents who would be hit especially hard by the increase.
"I lived in poverty growing up," he said, adding there already are people who have trouble with their bills "living in a state of panic."
Rivas said the city's median income is $27,000, while there also are senior citizens who are surviving on $1,200 per month.
"Vote no on this increase and find another way," he said.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Linda Chapman asked city staff to confirm that city code still contains provisions for low-income senior citizens and disabled citizens to receive a discount on their water, sewer and refuse. Those discounts also will see the 15 percent increase, meaning the total discount will increase from $35.99 to $43.81.
Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton and Ward 7 Councilwoman Onreka Johnson, who voted no, both cited concerns about the number of residents in their wards who would have a difficult time with the increase. Hampton said he was troubled by the number of constituents on fixed incomes.
"I need to be a representative of them," he said. "It will be difficult for me to approve this."
Johnson said she was troubled because she knows of residents who are already struggling, even with price breaks. She also asked that the council and city staff look at the issue to find other options for next year, reflecting city officials who are predicting the City of Lawton will be facing the same financial struggle next year.
Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren said some of the same people who don't want utility rates to increase have been complimenting the city on the work it is doing, things such as repairing streets.
"We have to decide what we don't want," he said, adding that without rate increases, the city must cut services. "My fear is that it's going to get worse."
Warren said the city already is dealing with increases in things such as asphalt, concrete and chemicals, increased prices that are expected to grow. Cleghorn has said projections city staff made in spring 2021 for fuel the city fleet would use this fiscal year were not enough, causing a shortfall that had to be addressed.
