Bill Martinson (incumbent)



Q&A

  1. A recent presentation by a city councilor showed Tulsa's overall police and fire budget has grown more than three times above the rate of inflation over the last 40 years without adding manpower in at least the last decade. It has been described as "unsustainable growth" with the city's current level of revenue. How would you propose to address this situation?
  2. The presentation can be found on the City Council’s website, tulsacouncil.org. The data reveal that not only have the police and fire budgets significantly outstripped inflation, but over the last ten years, those budgets, combined, have consumed 74% of the growth in the General Fund. This year, police and fire budgets will exceed the anticipated revenue from the 2 cent sales tax Tulsa depends on to fund many other core services such as parks and recreation, code enforcement, and public works activities such as street maintenance, traffic engineering, snow and ice removal, right-of-way mowing, and graffiti abatement. Reductions in such services are inevitable.

    This year, budgeted salaries and benefits per employee range from $84,569 for police, to $78,206 for fire, to $52,566 for all other departments (the average income in the Tulsa MSA is $37,140).

    For the last several decades, the City focused its funding on public safety at the expense of other service areas. While public safety is important, so are parks, transportation, healthy neighborhoods and general economic vitality. Maintaining these other key quality of life components also requires resources. Imposing greater fiscal responsibility on its police and fire unions will help Tulsa better allocate its scarce resources. Eliminating the waste of taxpayer's dollars on take home police vehicles is an example of some of this fiscal responsibility. Over 50% of Tulsa’s police officers live outside the City limits, and contrary to City ordinance, they drive their cars home at taxpayer expense.
  3. Over the last several years, controversy between the City Council and mayor's administration has triggered discussions about changing from the current strong mayor- council form of government to a city manager-council form of government and about having Tulsa's elected offices be non-partisan. Would you support either of these ideas? Why or why not?
  4. Changing to a city manager-council form of government would deprive citizens of the right to directly participate in determining who runs their City from day to day. Granted, under our current form, the qualification for mayor is limited to receiving one more vote than the opposition, but changing to a city manager format will not guarantee sound management. A city manager would conceivably need the support of only five city councilors to retain his or her job. Thus, the caliber of the city manager would likely depend on the caliber and composition of the city council.

    I have served with 16 different councilors and two mayors since I was first elected in 2005. Despite some philosophical differences, nearly all have had Tulsa’s best interests at heart. Although there is much less acrimony on the council than the pubic may perceive, controversy will be part of any truly representative form of government. When they are given the facts, I have great faith in the Tulsa voters and believe we should retain our strong mayor- council form of government.

    Several council districts are heavily skewed to one party or the other and those council races are often decided in partisan primaries. Since I believe all voters should be entitled to vote for their city council representative, I support non-partisan elections. Candidates could still disclose their party affiliation and all interested citizens could vote without being forced to change their party registration.
  5. Improving mass transit (i.e. additional bus service, rail lines, etc.) has been a major topic of discussion through the city's ongoing PlaniTulsa comprehensive planning process. Do you believe Tulsa's public transportation system needs improvement? Please explain.
  6. Tulsa's public transportation system could certainly use improvement; however, funding those improvements will be extremely expensive. Such an undertaking will require extensive planning as well as the participation and cooperation of the entire region.
  7. What would be your top three priorities if you are elected?
  8. All are inter-related and thus in no particular order: Challenge our priorities on all quality of life components. Working with the new mayor to establish a sound fiscal model for Tulsa. Strengthen relationships with all regional parties including the county and neighboring communities.