The issue: 0.167 sales tax
The city of Tulsa and Tulsa County are at it again.
Thursday's announcement that "county officials" are proposing a ballot initiative to recapture the county's old 0.167 percent Four to Fix sales tax to fund criminal justice projects elicited this immediate response from City Councilor G.T. Bynum: "Sounds to me like (County) Commissioner Smaligo is proposing a tax increase."
Bynum wasn't the only councilor miffed by the proposal, with several wondering why the county would attempt to recapture the same tax the city plans to use to help fund its proposed $919.9 million capital improvements package.
But Smaligo, it turns out, was not one of the county officials behind the ballot initiative.
County Commissioner Karen Keith and Sheriff Stanley Glanz are.
So Smaligo wasn't pleased to learn of Bynum's comment and used the occasion to clarify his position on the proposed ballot initiative and take a less-than-subtle swipe at Bynum.
"In spite of Councilor Bynum's remarkably misinformed comment, it's widely known that I've never endorsed a tax increase, and I won't treat this proposal any differently." Smaligo said. "While I'm certainly aware of the needs facing county government at both the Juvenile Bureau and the county jail, I'll continue to try to find ways to address those issues without increasing the tax burden.
"However, if there is grass-roots support for this idea, and the voters approve the initiative, I'll work hard to make sure Tulsa County residents' desires are met."
Bynum acknowledged Friday that he initially understood the proposal to be from Tulsa County - not two Tulsa County elected officials - and responded the way he did because Smaligo had previously told him he had no interest in returning the 0.167 to the county because it would constitute a tax increase.
Late Friday afternoon, Smaligo was still steaming, wondering aloud why Bynum had not returned his phone call. Bynum, meanwhile, seemed to know he had stepped in it with Smaligo but stood by his contention that the proposal by Keith and Glanz has complicated relations between the city and county and potentially jeopardized the city's capital improvement package.
"This is serious business we're talking about," Bynum said of the capital project.
QUOTABLE
"This is spotty. There will be one block where there's absolutely no damage and half a block over, limbs and trees are down and there is debris all over the road and in the yard."
- Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett on the condition of the city following Tuesday's overnight storms.
“The numbers are similar.”
- City Engineering Services Director Paul Zachary comparing the cost of his daughter's wedding to the city's $919.9 million capital funding package during a recent City Council meeting.
FROM TWITTER
Tweets from Tulsa city officials and World City Hall reporters Kevin Canfield (@KevinCanfieldTW) and Zack Stoycoff (@ZackStoycoffTW)
Had to drive my district tonight. Absolute war zone in D8. Massive limbs everywhere. Many neighborhood streets are impassable. Be careful!
- City Councilor Phil Lakin (@phlakin)
Even in zombie mode you're more on the ball than the rest of us! (to council aide Amy Brown)
- City Councilor G.T. Bynum (@gtbynum)
Tulsa City Councilors shocked and "disappointed" by county proposal for .167 cent tax, say they were blindsided.
- World Staff Writer Zack Stoycoff (@ZackStoycoffTW)
LOOKING BACK
Charter change: City councilors agreed Thursday to ask voters to grant them limited power to reject a mayor's city attorney appointment, giving both branches of city government a say in choosing the city's chief lawyer.
The city attorney position, which mayors have long filled unilaterally, would be subject to council review under a proposed City Charter amendment that councilors voted unanimously Thursday to place on the Nov. 12 ballot.
Councilor G.T. Bynum had proposed the measure.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett still must approve or not approve sending the measure to voters, but a two-thirds council majority would override a mayoral veto.
CDBG allocations: The City Council approved nearly $5.5 million in Community Development Block Grants on Thursday.
The largest proposed allocations this year include $1 million for a small-business loan fund for the Tulsa Economic Development Corp.; $890,000 for enhancements to the Mental Health Association of Tulsa's Building Tulsa, Building Lives program; and $570,000 for the city's Working In Neighborhoods' homeowner rehabilitation program.
Yard waste shortfall: Underwhelming yard-waste collections may force the city to trim its collection fleet and find other ways to cut costs or increase revenue, city officials and members of the city's trash board said Tuesday.
The city expected to collect 1.8 million bags filled with yard waste each year as part of the curbside trash and recycling system that began Oct. 1; but it is on pace to collect only 600,000 in the program's first year - a third of the projection, city finance official Alan Rowland told the board.
Meanwhile, the board has spent $1,427,681 on the service in the last nine months but has generated only $82,250 from six months of paid yard-waste pickup, a finance document shows. The first three months of pickup were free for residents.
LOOKING AHEAD
4 p.m. Monday: Housing Authority study session, 415 E. Independence St.
12 p.m. Tuesday: Metropolitan Tulsa Transit Authority Special meeting, 510 S. Rockford Ave.
6 p.m. Thursday: Regular City Council meeting, City Hall, 175 E. Second St.
TOWN HALL MEETING
See the proposed projects at
tulsaworld.com/capimprovelist
Tuesday's town hall meeting about the city's proposed $919.9 million capital improvements package has been moved to a larger facility as a result of larger-than-expected attendance at the previous meeting, officials said.
The meeting is set for
6:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Garnett Assembly of God,
2930 S. Garnett Road.
It was moved from Martin Regional Library after as many as 200 people attended the July 16 meeting at Hardesty Regional Library, said City Communications Director Kim MacLeod.
City officials are asking for citizen feedback on the proposed projects in the package, saying that the input could sway them to include or not include any projects.
"That's the whole purpose of going out to the public," Council Chairman David Patrick said. "We want to have something that the people can support."
Councilors plan to vote to finalize the projects by Aug. 22.
The other meetings, all set for 6 p.m., are slated for:
Aug. 5: OU-Tulsa Schusterman Center Auditorium, 4502 E. 41st St.
Aug. 6: Rudisill Regional Library, 1520 N. Hartford Ave.
Aug. 13: Carbondale Assembly of God, 2135 W. 51st St.
- ZACK STOYCOFF, World Staff Writer
Follow us on Twitter
Follow Tulsa World City Hall reporters Kevin Canfield (@KevinCanfieldTW) and Zack Stoycoff (@ZackStoycoffTW) for the latest news on the City of Tulsa.
Get more City of Tulsa coverage
Read past stories on the government of
the City of Tulsa, take a look at the city
budget and more.
Tulsa City Council
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former Mayor Kathy Taylor have eight weeks to make their cases before voters go to the polls Nov. 12.
Michigan-based Horizon Group Properties and Charlotte, N.C.-based Collett & Associates, the developer of the Tulsa Hills shopping center, seek to build a large outlet mall on a 64.8-acre parcel at 129th East Avenue and Interstate 44, officials said.
