A federal program that gives Tulsans assistance with their water bills wasn’t rolled out as quickly as several city councilors would have liked.
Two weeks ago, the city announced a contract with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to help residents pay utility bills. The program allows DHS to accept subsidies for the water and sewage portions of their bills.
Tulsans have used it about 350 times since it was rolled out, according to estimates from city officials. Federal funding for the program ends on Sept. 30.
The federal program has been in effect for two years, and has been used by Oklahoma City and tribal governments before Tulsa.
At a Wednesday committee meeting, Councilor Laura Bellis said she first heard of the program earlier this year after a constituent told her about it. Similarly, the city’s revenue and utility offices only began adjusting their billing system a few months ago to accommodate it.
“We found out about it, but my understanding is, it was kind of complicated, the system, to work through it,” said Binu Abraham of city revenue collections.
Abraham called the adaptations to accommodate the system “a huge undertaking.”
“Our team, we all pitched in in getting in the ideas and designing it, testing it, putting the procedures together, working through it. And we’re still working through, working out kinks,” he told councilors.
Councilors Vanessa Hall-Harper and Grant Miller both asked why the program wasn’t prioritized earlier if the federal government had rolled it out years prior. City Office of Financial Empowerment and Community Wealth Director Janae Bradford said Tulsa wasn’t previously recognized as a vendor for the program.
Considering the delay, Bellis asked if departments could be more proactive in seeking out grants that would help the city roll out programs like this one.
“Our grants department spends time supporting people applying for a lot of active ones. We’re not always prospective in what we’re seeking out,” said Bellis, noting the Tulsa Police Department has an employee designated for seeking grants.
Bradford said securing money that would help enact programs like this is a future goal for her office.
“My office needs to be paying attention to, what are the federal, state and local opportunities to bring funding into our community. And so that, obviously, getting financial assistance into Tulsans is part of that,” she said.
Council chairwoman Crista Patrick thanked the city officials for getting a system that would work with the federal relief program up and running.
At the meeting, Bellis suggested they advocate for its renewal, as state legislatures throughout the country have.
