Oklahoma County commissioners adopted a $138,265,103 budget for fiscal year 2025-26 on a motion to accept the Budget Evaluation Team's recommendation, Chairman and commissioners voting "Aye." The vote approved funding departments at their requested estimates while placing several significant items on a watch list for later review.

The BET recommendation, presented at the meeting, said the county can fund departmental estimated needs now instead of using a flat budget, citing two factors: the treasurer’s office moving some funding off the general fund into a reserve and Social Services freeing up budget capacity. BET recommended beginning the year with a reserve balance of $8,382,149, of which $7,091,047 are one-time funds (ARPA interest and sheriff-made funds). That leaves an unearmarked balance of $1,291,102 for July 1 through the September supplement.

BET representative Cody Compton framed the recommendation and identified several watch-list items commissioners must monitor, including an increased request from the Criminal Justice Authority and contract-driven court services. "We're looking at tracking that," Compton said about the CJA request and related uncertainties.

BET recommended funding the criminal justice authority out of the general government account at last year’s level ($33,000,009.65) and tracking the authority’s requested increase—about $8.2 million—on the watch list until September supplement. For court services, which are now delivered via three contract providers, BET recommended the general fund allocation of $1,260,903 and placed a $291,102 shortfall on the watch list while staff work with providers to adjust requests.

On employee benefits, BET recommended starting the year at just over $9,500,000 and putting $806,840 on the watch list for later adjustment. The board agreed to defer consideration of an annual cost-of-living adjustment until the September supplement; BET estimated that a countywide COLA would appear as a roughly $1.8 million watch-list item if enacted.

Commissioner Mullen commented on the tension between the county and the Criminal Justice Authority, saying in part, "We're not gonna close down that jail. We're not gonna run out of money. It is going to work, but both sides need to work together on this." The board did not alter BET’s recommendation before adopting it.

The board recorded a motion and a subsequent amendment by Mister Johnson to adopt BET's recommendations; the motion carried with an "Aye" vote. The board will review watch-list items—including the CJA request, court services contract shortfall and COLA—during the early fiscal-year supplement process in September.