Tulsa comes in at No. 12 in a watchdog group’s annual ranking of the most financially sound cities in the U.S.
The City of Tulsa moved up one spot from last year in Truth In Accounting's "Financial State of the Cities" report. CEO Sheila Weinberg said the city went from in the red to in the black in that time.
"Tulsa has their pension assets invested in the market, either the stock market or other marketable assets, and because the market’s done better, the pension assets have done better. So Tulsa, for the first year, actually has extra money available to pay its bills," Weinberg said.
The report says Tulsa has $1.1 billion available to pay $1 billion in obligations, amounting to a surplus of $100 per taxpayer. The No. 1 city, Irvine, California, has a surplus of $4,100 per taxpayer.
"Financial State of the Cities" considers not only current expenses in cities' debts, but also things like pensions and retiree health benefits.
"We're doing a more holistic approach that is actually looking at the risk that future taxpayers are going to have to pay taxes for prior costs," Weinberg said.
Tulsa is one of just 12 cities in the report to have a surplus. At No. 12, it’s two spots ahead of Oklahoma City, which Truth In Accounting says is $71.2 million short on assets to pay its debts.