District 1 Commissioner Dan DeLozier said the county has budgeted $17.08 million in Fiscal Year 2025.
DeLozier said one challenge the county encountered in drafting this year's budget was where to allocate the $1.1 million surplus generated by County Treasurer Jason Carini's investment program.
He said many county departments vied for a piece of the surplus, but the Rogers County Sheriff's Office ended up getting the lion's share.
Following the excise board's approval, the commissioners will sign off on the budget. County Clerk First Deputy Marla Lillie said the county would deliver the budget to Oklahoma City in October. For 15 days after this, people will have a chance to give feedback on the budget on State Auditor Cindy Byrd's website.
At the Rogers County Commissioners' Monday morning meeting, the commissioners learned the county will receive reimbursement this week for damages caused by last year's Father's Day storm.
Statton said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is giving the county $479,422.25. That's 75% of the cost of the damage District 3 sustained.
He said FEMA also owes the county $31,961.49 for management costs, and that money will likely come down in December.
District 3 Commissioner Ron Burrows said the money would go toward future roads and bridges projects.
"I mentioned in the in the opening prayer, we are blessed," Burrows said. "We have money to be able to go to work and and directly start cleaning up after these disasters."
Statton also told the commissioners 160 storm shelters are being built in Rogers County with state money.
The emergency management department held two meetings in August, when 160 people were awarded up to $3,000 to build safe rooms. Statton said the program allowed up to 170 shelters — 410 applicants qualified for the grant — and he said he'd trawl through the alternates list to award 10 more grants.
He said people have until Aug. 26, 2025, to finish building the shelters. After that, Statton said Oklahoma Emergency Management indicated it may start another safe room grant program.
"The phone down there [in my office] is burning up every day with questions, and we actually have our first one installed, all the documents back to me and ready for close out as of Friday," Statton said. "The second one came in this morning. That project is going good."
Statton said the county will also receive about $150,000 from FEMA in the next month as reimbursement for the federally-declared COVID-19 disaster.
Statton also discussed the ongoing reimbursement process for the May tornado. He said his department has until Friday to report all damages from the tornado.
He said the county is still hashing out whether insurance will be able to help it pay for roof damage sustained by the Rogers County Election Board, the sheriff's office and the county jail.
The commissioners also approved what District 2 Commissioner Steve Hendrix said may be the last of the county's disbursements of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
They gave the nod to $65,000 for the Inola Industrial Park to hook its tenants up to high-speed broadband.
Hendrix said paying out the county's roughly $18 million in ARPA funds has been a long road.
"It's been very gratifying," Hendrix said. "... We're all very confident that we've used this money judiciously and affected as many lives and people in Rogers County as we could to improve the quality of life for everyone."
The commissioners also authorized DeLozier to apply for a grant to expand broadband access to veterans, senior citizens, people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.
Spokesperson Diana Dickinson said the grant, managed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, is competitive. She said the money, if awarded, would fund training programs, public Internet access and technology.
"This initiative seeks to bridge the digital divide and promote digital equity for underserved populations," she said. "We are in the process of identifying needs for those in the covered households."
Julie Dermody, secretary of the county election board, said her office would stay open until midnight Oct. 11. That's the last day for people to register to vote ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
She said the election board registered 700 new voters in August. Dermody said most were 18-year-olds newly able to vote, but others were 70- or 80-year-olds who'd never registered to vote.
The commissioners tabled choosing a contractor to build a chain-link fence around the firing range the county is building on an old rock quarry near Lake Oologah.
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