Great topic, and interesting conversation. The City provides a pretty nice executive summary of the budget:
https://www.cityoftulsa.org/media/426340/02%20Executive%20Summary.pdfHere are two interesting graphs:
On the revenues side of things, "taxes" refers to:
Sales tax, use tax, franchise tax/right-of-way user fees, hotel/motel tax, and ad valorem tax. ("The State Constitution requires Tulsa make an annual Ad Valorem tax levy sufficient to pay for the principal and interest on bonded indebtedness and any court judgments against the City." I don't think we're allowed to use it for anything else.)
Enterprise revenues are:
"Charges for using utility services, emergency medical services, and golf courses are sources of revenue for the enterprise funds. Utility charges include revenues generated by the water system, the sanitary sewer system, the solid waste disposal service, and the stormwater management program. The Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) fees are collected and used to help fund the operations of emergency medical services. Golf course revenue is generated from the operations of Page Belcher and Mohawk Golf Courses."
I don't know how our expenditures compare to other cities, but it looks to me as if roads, infrastructure repair, public safety and debt (for more roads and infrastructure?) takes up most of the pie.
Now for my current favorite statistic:
Since 1963, the population of Tulsa has increased about 30%. During that same time the city's geographic area has increased about 300%.
Gosh, I wonder why we can't afford all the cops and roads....?