From the late approval of a town budget to unpaid police pensions the Maysville Board of Trustees took up several weighty financial items during a public budget hearing and a special Town Board of Trustees meeting Sept. 30.
The board first convened two public budget hearings – one for the town and one for the Maysville Municipal Authority – to discuss, hear public comment and approve a budget for the fiscal year that started July 1, 2025.
Not much discussion was had, however. Mayor Cindy White and Trustees David Uhles and Joy Taylor opened the hearings, then White read two agenda items which included holding a public hearing on the proposed FY 2025-26 budget and discussion and possible action to make changes to the proposed budget.
Trustees voted to approve the budgets as proposed with no changes and the hearings were adjourned, with both lasting less than five minutes, collectively.
The budget summary document approved by trustees shows a town budget of $1,063,500 for FY 2025-26, with an estimated $501,000 expected in revenues from the general fund, including an estimated $392,000 generated primarily from sales tax and an estimated $547,500 of revenue from Maysville Municipal Authority utility fees.
The summary shows for the fiscal year 2023-24, ending June 30, 2024, the municipal authority brought in total revenue of $683,885 from utility fees. Due to an apparent breakdown in the town’s bookkeeping over the last 24 months, the summary does not list an actual amount for the most recent fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, but does show an estimated figure for that year of $318,787.
Oklahoma statutes require municipalities to file a budget with the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office prior to the beginning of each fiscal year. The News Star has been unable to find an FY 2024-25 budget for Maysville on the State Auditor and Inspector’s website. It also appears Maysville’s FY 2023-2024 was not received by the auditor’s office until February of 2024, seven months after the start of that fiscal year.
As trustees moved from the Sept. 30 budget hearing to the Maysville Town Board meeting, the first action item on the agenda was accepting the resignation of Trustee Kevin Kappes.
Kappes was elected to the board in April, and since then had been serving as the trustee overseeing the town’s office. In that role, he had been working to straighten out the town’s bookkeeping, after it came to light bills had gone unpaid and accounts had not been reconciled for over a year. In Town Board of Trustee meetings over the last several months, Kappes has said the town’s expenses are outpacing income, with payroll one of the largest expenses.
“Our expenses exceed our income every month. We’ve got to figure something out,” Kappes said during a special meeting July 15.
In his resignation letter, dated Sept. 22, Kappes said, “It has become increasingly clear that there is a significant lack of understanding regarding fundamental business, budget and finance principles among certain members of the current board. This deficiency, coupled with an apparent unwillingness to engage in meaningful conversations to explore not only immediate solutions but also strategies for addressing our town’s ongoing issues of overspending and revenue shortfalls, has rendered my efforts to address those concerns ineffective.”
The letter goes on to say, “Given these circumstances, I find myself unable, in good conscience, to continue participating in what I believe amounts to the misuse of our town’s resources and finances. My commitment to responsible stewardship and ethical governance makes it impossible for me to support or be associated with actions that, in my view, are not in the best interest of our community.”
Kappes’ resignation leaves two open trustee positions on the board. The other was vacated by the resignation of Eric Catman at the board’s regular meeting in August. Catman reluctantly resigned after being informed prior to the August meeting he was no longer eligible to hold the trustee position because he failed to complete an eight-hour training course required for newly elected officials.
State statute requires newly elected municipal officials to complete the training within one year of taking office. Catman was appointed to the board position in July of 2024, after it was vacated by the resignation of Anita Uhles. He was re-elected to the position in April 2025. He said he did not realize the training was required to be taken within a year of his appointment to the office in 2024, but rather he thought he had a year from the time of his election by voters in April of 2025.
During the Sept. 30 special meeting, the remaining three trustees convened a nearly 40-minute executive session to interview candidates to fill the two open positions. When they returned to open session, they voted 3-0 to appoint Joe Forkner to fill one of the open board seats. The other remains unfilled.
The board took no action on an item regarding making payment to the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System (OPPRS) for past due pension contributions.
According to a letter from OPPRS addressed to Mayor Cindy White and dated Aug. 28, the town has not remitted employee contributions withheld from the payroll checks of their police officers since the town joined the pension system in August of 2023. The matching employer contributions, owed by the town, are also in arrears, according to the letter.
During a special meeting July 15, office staff told trustees the pension was around $58,000 in arrears, plus “hefty” fines and penalties.
The town currently has over $500,000 in a restricted street maintenance account, and trustees have discussed the feasibility of using a portion of that money to catch up the past pension amounts and to pay federal payroll taxes that are also in arrears. That street account is funded by a one-cent sales tax that board members believe to be designated specifically for street repair and maintenance. However, town officials said they have not been able to locate an ordinance or ballot language that gives guidance on what exactly that tax money’s restricted use is.
“We can’t find it in any of the ordinance books. We can’t find any documentation for that account,” White said. “We know that it comes from tax money or whatever, but we don’t have any specifications on it.”
Town attorney Micah Ayache has been researching the matter to see if he can locate documentation, or otherwise free the funds to be used elsewhere legally. He told the board during the Sept. 30 meeting he was still working on the matter.
White offered the new information that she had been told the sales tax dates back to a 1988 election ballot.
The board voted 3-0 to take no action on the item regarding pension payments while they continue to work on how to pay the amount owed.
The August letter from OPPRS states if action is not taken to get the pension contributions up to date, the matter will be referred to the Garvin County District Attorney.
During the meeting, trustees also heard a presentation from the town’s auditor, Russell & Williams CPAs, P.C., regarding findings of the FY 2022-23 annual audit, which was completed in July of this year.
The auditor reported that as of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the town’s financial statements appeared to be an accurate representation of the town’s financial condition.
“Keep in mind this is a couple of years behind,” the auditor making the presentation said. “We’d like to be caught up, but it is what it is.”
Municipalities are required to complete an independent audit of their financial statements each fiscal year, with completed audits submitted to the State Auditor and Inspector’s office by December 30. Maysville has not yet completed an audit for the fiscal year which ended June 30, 2024. The audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, will be due in December.
During the Sept. 30 special meeting, trustees also:
•Voted to pay police officers an overtime rate of 1.5 for anything over a 40-hour week. The 1.5 overtime payrate is already set in the employee handbook but was not being followed.
•Heard a presentation from Chase Rescue regarding providing animal shelter services to the town. No action was taken.
•Approved Oct. 25 as Maysville’s official trick-or-treat night.
•Under the Maysville Municipal Authority meeting trustees approved opening an account at Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank for ARPA grant funds awarded by the Oklahoma Water Resource Board, and approved contractor and engineering payments for the ongoing water system improvements project.
