Tulsa residents will vote on a handful of sales tax measures in April — if city officials can reach an agreement in time to get them on the ballot.
Public safety, transportation, the river and economic development will each have at least one ballot measure spelling out the sales tax rate and term and how revenues will be spent. Senior Assistant City Attorney Mark Swiney said they’re trying to avoid the specter of logrolling.
"You don't want the voter to say, 'Well, I want this, but I don't want this. So I have to vote for this thing I don't want in order to get what I do want,'" Swiney said. "That's unfair to the voter. It's illegal."
Tulsa’s Vision renewal package has grown to include Improve Our Tulsa and bonds. City Finance Director Mike Kier crunched numbers through 2031 to make sure everything works.
"You know, this is a long period of time to be forecasting, but I think we've got some pretty solid numbers," Kier said.
Right now, voters would separately approve four sales tax measures totaling 0.55 percent: a permanent 0.2 percent sales tax for public safety, which would increase to 0.3 percent after five years; a permanent 0.05 percent sales tax for public transportation; a 15-year, 0.125 percent sales tax for river projects; and a 15-year, 0.175 percent sales tax for economic development projects.
Councilor Phil Lakin said the funding package is still just a draft.
"And I think everybody agreed that, yeah, there may be changes," Lakin said.
Draft ordinances are ready should Tulsans approve those sales tax measures this spring. Councilor Blake Ewing thinks the city has skipped a step.
"Have we felt like we've had public comment about a 15-year program, ever once with the public? Have we ever had a scenario where the public was allowed to weigh in over — " Ewing said during Thursday's Vision task force meeting, at that point cut off by Councilors Karen Gilbert, Jeannie Cue and Anna America saying yes. "Then what planet was I on when we had that public meeting after we've created a draft on [Dec.] 18?"
The ordinances came out of a mayor-council retreat Dec. 18 to build consensus on Vision renewal projects.
City officials rushed to schedule a slate of public hearings next week after Ewing's comments. They are tentatively scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with additional time for public feedback during Thursday's regular council meeting.
Feb. 4 is the deadline to file for an April election.
