An agreement is in the works to keep Tulsa city and county in step for the upcoming Vision sales tax renewal.
County leaders balked at a 0.05 percent allocation of the city's 0.6 renewal, saying they’d go for 0.1 percent on their own. But now they’ll take the lesser amount if the city finds $35 million in its package for fairgrounds work.
Councilor G.T. Bynum presented the idea to the council and Mayor Dewey Bartlett at a committee meeting Thursday. He said the city benefits more from events at the fairgrounds than the county does.
"So it's in our interest to fund projects at the fairgrounds, and if we can do that and move forward with the county arm-in-arm on this instead of competing, I think that's a win for everybody involved," Bynum said.
The proposed compromise would also give Tulsa County an estimated $14 to 15 million from the Vision surplus when the current sales tax expires.
Bartlett recently said it was probably too late for such an agreement but has since changed course.
"If we can make room for them by being able to delete some of our current projects to accommodate the county, I'm OK with that," Bartlett said.
City councilors have expressed concerns with a couple of items on the county’s list of fairgrounds projects. Councilor David Patrick said he takes issue with $8 million for general maintenance and almost $4 million for miscellaneous capital improvements on the county’s list.
"I'm not opposed to, you know, incorporating some of this into our package if we can find the money," Patrick said. "But I want to make sure that the people will support it and not generalize it to the point that they think we're just giving their money away free."
City and county leaders will meet to discuss the proposal next week.
