Tulsa City Councilors Karen Gilbert (from left), David Patrick, Blake Ewing, Jeannie Cue and Jack Henderson at a previous City Council meeting. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World file
A historic capital improvements proposal is headed to Tulsa voters Nov. 12 with a concession that will keep a competing county proposal off the ballot.
City councilors voted unanimously Thursday night to call an election for a $918.7 million funding package that would leave part of a city sales tax for a future county funding package, preventing a tax increase for people shopping in Tulsa and decreasing a potential increase for those shopping in other parts of the county.
The vote means city voters will consider the most money ever placed on a Tulsa ballot: a $355 million all-streets general obligation bond proposition along with a separate ballot item to extend 1.1 percent in sales taxes until the remaining $563.7 million is funded.
Under a deal made Wednesday, two of three county commissioners agreed to abandon their push to ask voters simultaneously for a new 0.167-cent countywide sales tax and instead agreed to seek an election in the spring to capture the tax left off the city’s package.
Hashed out by Councilors G.T. Bynum and Phil Lakin and recently-elected Commissioner Ron Peters over about five hours, the deal splits the city’s 0.167-cent share of the county’s former 4 to Fix the County tax, with the city’s package retaining 0.1 percent and leaving 0.067 percent for the county.
Bynum said the compromise addresses the county’s critical needs while minimizing changes in the city’s proposal.
“It’s amazing to think that 48 hours ago we were headed on a collision course with Tulsa County on this,” he said Thursday night. “Today, to have a proposal that has the support of our colleagues at the county, that has the unanimous support of the city government, ... I think that’s a remarkable turnaround.”
The lost tax represents about $25 million, but the remaining sales taxes would remain in effect four to five months longer to make up the difference, officials said.
The taxes are now expected to expire six to 6 1/2 years after the program takes effect July 1, 2014, depending on collection rates, city Finance Director Mike Kier said.
The proposal also includes a “backstop” to prevent the taxes from lasting longer than seven years if collections are slower than projected.
Peters said Thursday that after several weeks of failed compromise talks, officials from both sides “just sort of manned up and said, ‘We’ve got to get something done.’”
County and city officials had sought to prevent side-by-side 0.167-cent proposals — a scenario they feared would endanger both, either by confusing voters or by raising the possibility of a tax increase for Tulsans if both pass.
“We really needed some assistance from (the city) and help from them, and they figured out a way to make it happen, and I’m very pleased,” Peters said. “I think we did the right thing for the people.”
County officials, he said, are now eyeing an election in April for a permanent 0.067-cent tax to build extra Tulsa Jail pods and a juvenile justice center — $50 million or $60 million worth of projects that would get only $32 million from the tax over five years.
The county likely will seek additional funds from private sources and would allocate the tax’s future revenue for operating costs for the facilities, Peters said.
If approved, the proposal would increase sales taxes at businesses in the county but outside Tulsa by 0.067 percent beginning July 1, 2014, and would keep sales taxes level in Tulsa.
County Commissioner Karen Keith, a main figure in the earlier compromise efforts, said Thursday afternoon that she supports the terms and was grateful to the city for its help.
Commissioner John Smaligo said he would not support a tax increase.
The city has been working toward its capital improvements package for at least nine months and has held four dozen public meetings over the proposal, including two rounds of town hall meetings attended by hundreds of residents.
The proposal, which includes $654.2 million for transportation projects such as street repairs and widening and new public buses, also would fund projects such as police and fire equipment, city facility renovations and park equipment.
It has $470 million strictly for street repairs between its two ballot propositions, which would make it the largest single investment in streets in Tulsa’s history.
Keith and Sheriff Stanley Glanz pitched the idea of a new 0.167-cent tax late last month, angering city councilors, who called it a last-minute complication.
Bynum and Lakin said they called Peters around 4 p.m. Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to find a compromise. The councilors worked out the details with city and council staff and fellow councilors before finalizing the deal with Peters shortly after 9 p.m.
"I'm beyond words that we've gotten through this process in the way that we have in the last nine months ... with the support of the county," Lakin said. “I think we’ve all come together in a very significant way."
Mayor Dewey Bartlett said he is pleased with the deal and would support the package.
“Certainly, everybody has things they would have liked to see a little differently, but at the end of the day, this is something we can move ahead with,” he said.
World Staff Writer Kevin Canfield contributed to this story.
Sales tax proposition
Tax: 1.1 percent (extends third-penny and 0.167-cent taxes)
Funding: $563.7 million
Timing: From July 1, 2014, until the amount is raised (estimated 6 to 6 1/2 years), but no later than 7 years
Projects: $299.2 million for arterial street repair, widening, public transit and bike/pedestrian infrastructure; $264.5 million for other capital projects
Bond proposition
Funding: $355 million
Timing: 5 years
Projects: $275 million for nonarterial street repairs; $80 million for arterials
Local Politics
City voters on Nov. 12 will consider separate ballot propositions to extend 1.1 percent in sales taxes up to seven years for $563.7 million in roadwork and other capital improvements projects and to issue $355 million in general obligation bonds mainly for nonarterial roadwork.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former Mayor Kathy Taylor have eight weeks to make their cases before voters go to the polls Nov. 12.
