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Pawhuska
Posted: Jun 18, 2025 2:43 PMUpdated: Jun 18, 2025 2:43 PM
Pawhuska Holds Public Hearing Regarding Budget
Ty Loftis
A public hearing was held on Tuesday evening at Pawhuska's community center regarding the budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. As things stand, the budget that City Manager Jerry Eubanks has presented to the council would cut five jobs from within the City of Pawhuska. This includes three jobs from the street department, one job from the fire department and an additional job from code enforcement.
Many members of the community asked why these cuts have to be made. Here is what Eubanks had to say.
City Inspector Mike Bayro said he only has one other employee helping him with code enforcement. Without that employee, Bayro says it would be difficult to maintain the structure that is currently in place.
Fire Chief Lloyd Arnce said by letting a single person from his crew go, much more destruction would happen should a fire like the one we saw last year come back to Pawhuska.
Council member Mark Buchanan believes there is a way to pass a budget without having to cut those five jobs.
The council will not fully know where they stand financially until they get caught up on their audits. They are currently waiting on the 2023 audit to be complete, which they are hoping to have out by the end of the month.
Mayor Steve Tolson says that when he was elected, the City of Pawhuska over spent the budget by more than $500,000 and they had to transfer money to cover that. Tolson added this over spending has been an ongoing issue and at some point you have to stop kicking the can down the curb.
Next Tuesday, the council will look to adopt the 2025-2026 fiscal year budget.
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