Compensation Alone Costs Sulphur Between $200,000 - $300,000 In On Year, Audit Shows
An estimated total of $200,000.00 to $300,000.00 in payroll overpayments and underpayments to employees for fiscal year 2022-2023 that are deemed to have cost the City of Sulphur, was revealed to Sulphur Council members at the regular monthly meeting Monday night. This figure is only for one year. Over a 10-20 year period, the amount could potentially be in the millions.
Jack Roye, of Michael W. Green, CPA firm, presented findings at the meeting. Roye stated the ledgers provided are not sufficient to make an exact determination of some of the cost or liabilities. In a letter of audit findings, it is stated that the root cause of the issues can be traced to the city’s management and staff not understanding the city’s policies and having no written procedures for payroll while using outdated practices of utilizing spreadsheets and paper time sheets to calculate and track compensation for city employees instead of using modern technologies such as time clocks and payroll computer software to do the calculations and tracking.
The letter also stated that confusion about the city’s policies and many years of “this is how we have always done it” contributed to the issue.
Roye encouraged management to try to determine the underpayments to employees and resolve the issue as soon as practical.
Another issue that arose from the audit was related third-party transactions that violate state statutes as well as the city charter. One issue was the City of Sulphur doing business with Ryan’s Body Shop which is owned and operated by Ward 4 Councilman Ryan Peters. An open record request by the Sulphur Times-Democrat reveals that Ryan’s Body Shop received payments on more than one occasion for doing work for the city. Some checks were in excess of $2,500.00 each and some were even signed by the councilman himself. The documentation received in the open records shows two active accounts for the councilman, one under Ryan’s Body Shop and one under Ryan Peters.
State Statute Title 11 reads in part: “Contracting with the municipality, or buying or bartering or otherwise engaging in any manner in the acquisition of any bonds, warrants or other evidence of indebtedness of the municipality” is a violation. “Any person convicted of violating the provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any transaction entered into in violation of the provisions shall be void.Any member of a governing body who approves any transaction in violation of the provisions shall be held personally liable for the amount of the transactions.”
The city charter, which prevails over the statutes, in most cases, reads as follows: Section 12. “NO member of the city council many hold any other office of the city for which compensation is paid out of public funds, nor make ANY contract with the City of Sulphur, nor in any way have interest in any such contract until two years after his term of office as councilman has expired.” Lastly the Oath of Office repeated by every councilman upon taking office reads in part as follows: “and that i will NOT, knowingly receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, for the performance or non performance of any act or duty pertaining to my office.”
Another issue in the audit was a third-party transaction between an employee selling goods to the city. Some third-party transactions are legal if they are publicly reported and documented at the time of the transaction. Properly executed, third-party transactions do not fall under same violations as doing business with a serving councilman. At the time of this publication, the Sulphur Times-Democrat has made an open records request for the third-party transactions listed in the audit, but have not received the documentation.
After Roye’s presention, council members approved the audit.
In other business, Ide Russell addressed council members concerning the drainage issues on West Tahlequah St. The city’s engineering firm released a study requested by the city on the issues at a recent council meeting. It seems that the issue could be the responsibility of the developer and not the city, depending on the location of the drainage ditch.
Council members also approved the employment of a new city attorney to replace Les Wesberry, who resigned effective March 31, 2025. Members interviewed two candidates in open meeting, Thomas Marcum and Jack Coppedge. Members approved Marcum to assume the duties on April 1, 2025.
Members approved to retain Choosing Charity for grant writing purposes for the city on a 12-month contract.
Following a brief executive session to discuss contract terms with Corey Stevens to purchase interest in real property, members returned and approved the city manager proceeding with presenting and signing agreement with Stevens for water well drilling as per the Chickasaw/OWRB Grant Project.
In the treasurer’s reports, City Treasurer Ginger Cornell told members the use tax collections are down 17% ($67,000) and sales tax is down $127,000.00 for the year, but lodging tax is up.
Other agenda items approved at the meeting include the following: •an inter-local agreement for DPS Wellness Division between the Oklahoma Department of Pubic Safety and the City of Sulphur on behalf of the Sulphur Fire Department;
•an emergency water contract between the Buckhorn Rural Water District #2 and the City of Sulphur;
•a bid of $4296.00 from Jones Spray Foam for public works building;
•a bid for $9,180.00 from David Miller Overhead Door, Inc., for doors at public works facility;
•adding a six-camera recorder system to the recently purchased trash truck in the amount of $4,655.00
•advertisement for the Fun Times Magazine;
•lease agreement with the Arbuckle Historical Society for the old fire station building; •payment of $43,252.00 to Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group for the fourth quarter property and liability insurance;
•payment of $134,984.27 to CD Brown Construction for invoice no. 8 of the irrigation water mains project;
•payment of $133,698.10 to CD Brown Construction for invoice no. 9 of the irrigation water mains project;
•payment of $136,142.74 to Beytco, Inc. for invoice no. 4 of the irrigation booster pump station;
•payment of $25,764.90 to Beytco, Inc. for invoice no. 5 of the irrigation booster pump station;
•payment of $26,316.00 to Myers Engineering for engineering services on the OWRB/Chickasaw Nation Water Project-wells, pump station and lines; and
•payment of $5,800.00 to Rockfish Aquifer Imaging property scanning.
In the consent agenda, council members approved the following:
•payment to FirstNet, a branch ofAT&T for cell phone service in an amount not to exceed $900.00;
•payment of $895.06 to Computer Supplies and Services fro envelopes and letterheads;
•payment of $1,097.47 to Owens Plumbing for installing new water heater at the Senior Citizen Center;and
•payment of $342.73 to A&A Supply, LLC for hoses and fittings; •payment of $357.33 to USA Bluebook for lab supplies Ward 4 Councilman Ryan Peters was absent at the meeting.
