BartlesvilleNot a ballot

How Bartlesville is run

Who runs Bartlesville, what it costs, and where your money goes

The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Bartlesville's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.

Who runs Bartlesville

A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.

City of Bartlesville · Jan 1, 2025

What they are paid

Interim City Manager Laura Sanders: base payNot confirmed2026. Laura Sanders, the assistant city manager, has served as interim city manager since August 2026. We found no document that states her pay. In October 2026 the council told staff to negotiate a contract with Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen. City of Bartlesville · Aug 13, 2026
A council memberNot confirmed2024. The charter says council members receive no salary. They get an attendance fee of ten dollars per council meeting, paid for no more than four meetings a month. City of Bartlesville · Apr 2, 2024
The mayorNot confirmed2024. The mayor is a council member and is paid the same way: no salary, only an attendance fee of ten dollars per council meeting, for no more than four meetings a month. City of Bartlesville · Apr 2, 2024

Bartlesville city staff

400 full-time-equivalent positions, including Police 86, Fire 74, Water 39, Sanitation 32, Emergency dispatch 20. FY2026-27. Budgeted full-time equivalent positions, all funds. City of Bartlesville · May 4, 2026

The budget lists positions by count for each department. We found no published list of employee pay. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.

Is Bartlesville in the red?

Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.

General fund, FY2026-27$42.6MOut of $247M across all city funds, which includes utilities and other money that can only be spent on one thing. City of Bartlesville · May 4, 2026
Savings grew, FY2022-23 (audited)+$5.4MGeneral fund revenue $31.6M, spending $29.7M. The general fund took in $1.8 million more than it spent in the year ended June 30, 2023. After $7.3 million of transfers in and $4.0 million of transfers out, its fund balance rose by $5.4 million. City of Bartlesville · Jan 1, 2025

Savings

Unassigned general fund balance: $5.5M (2023-06-30). City of Bartlesville · Jan 1, 2025

Pension promises not yet funded$23.2M(2023-06-30). City of Bartlesville · Jan 1, 2025
Debt owed$56.5M$21.79M of voter-approved general obligation bonds and $34.67M of notes for the water and sewer systems, most of them Oklahoma Water Resources Board loans. 2023-06-30. City of Bartlesville · Jan 1, 2025

Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.

Where the money comes from and goes

The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.

Comes from

  • Sales tax$18.1M · 42%
  • Transfers in from utilities and other funds$7.5M · 18%
  • General fund balance carried into the year$5.6M · 13%
  • Use tax (online and out-of-state purchases)$5.2M · 12%
  • Franchise tax$1.6M · 4%
  • Charges for services$1.5M · 3%
  • Other (interest, fines, intergovernmental, licenses and miscellaneous)$3.1M · 7%

City of Bartlesville · May 4, 2026

Goes to (FY2026-27)

  • Police$11.5M · 27%
  • Fire$9.4M · 22%
  • Transfers out (dispatch, pools, golf, reserves)$2.8M · 7%
  • Accounting and finance$2.2M · 5%
  • Streets$2.2M · 5%
  • Library$1.9M · 5%
  • Technical services (IT)$1.9M · 5%
  • Other (administration, parks, engineering, legal, reserves and others)$10.6M · 25%

City of Bartlesville · May 4, 2026

Who provides your services

Not everything in Bartlesville is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.

Compared with similar cities

The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.

YukonOKBartlesvilleOKLawtonOKTulsaOK
Residents27,61538,27890,503416,209
Top administrator's base pay$202,000Not confirmed$227,157Not confirmed
Council member payNot confirmedNot confirmedNot confirmed$32,000
General fund per resident$1,399$1,113$987$1,069
Debt per resident$1,122$1,475$3,769$1,882
Unfunded pension per resident$739$606$909$877
City staff per 1,000 residents—10.59.310.4

Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how).

What Bartlesville publishes

What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.

Questions to ask your council

  1. The latest audit posted covers the year ended June 30, 2023. When will the audits for 2024 and 2025 be posted?
  2. The council is negotiating a contract with a new city manager. Will the contract and salary be posted online?

The fiscal year starts July 1. The proposed budget goes to the council in mid-April. The council holds a public hearing and adopts the budget in early May; the 2026-27 budget was adopted May 4, 2026. The budget is filed with the State Auditor by June 30. See who is running for council

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Every number here was checked by hand against the linked document. Cities publish on different schedules, so years differ between sections; each figure says which year it describes. Spotted something wrong or out of date?

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