JAY - Delaware County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday on a resolution asking voters to approve a 17-year, half-cent sales tax to pay for a $13.5 million civil rights judgment against the Sheriff's Office.
The resolution calls for holding a special election on April 3. The sales tax would begin July 1 and end in 17 years or when the debt is satisfied, the resolution states.
"The vast majority (of the residents) at the meeting favored the sales tax," County Commissioner Doug Smith said after the meeting.
The county would buy bonds, which would be repaid with revenue from the sales tax.
The multimillion-dollar judgment is to be paid in three installments, according to a federal order signed Dec. 1. The first installment is due by April 30, 2013, and the remaining installments will be due by the same date in 2014 and 2015, the document states.
The county does not have a sinking fund, and if the sales-tax measure fails, the county will look to property taxes to pay the judgment, Smith said.
Earlier, county officials said they would have to raise property taxes by 18 percent over the next three years to pay off the settlement.
American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma pays the highest property taxes in Delaware County, Smith said. If the company incurs more expenses, the cost will be passed down to customers, he said.
Passing school bonds also would be challenging if property taxes are raised, Smith said.
The county's insurance policy has a $1 million liability maximum. Currently, there is litigation to determine whether the county's insurance policy should pay $1 million toward the entire settlement or $1 million toward each of the 15 plaintiffs' claims.
"If we prevail (in the lawsuit) that will shorten the term (of the sales taxes collected)," Smith said.
An increase in sales-tax revenue will also shorten the term of the sales tax, he said.
"People are anti-tax, regardless of what it is," said Bruce Johnson, Grove city manager.
Delaware County residents have voted down four sales-tax increase proposals earmarked to build a new jail and Grove residents shot down two motel-hotel tax proposals.
Grove's sales-tax base provides most of the sales taxes collected in the county, Johnson said. Only 6 percent of sales taxes are tourist driven, he said.
"Passing the sales tax will handicap the city of Grove for the next 20 years in trying to pass other sales tax increases," Johnson said.
The lake community's sales tax is 8.8 percent. An increase would shoot the city's sales taxes up to 9.3 percent, making it the top three taxed communities in the region and the second in the community of its size, he said.
"Seventeen years is a long time for the taxpayer," said Jay Mayor Mark Wall. "I would prefer that we look at other avenues."
Jay's sales tax would increase from 8.4 percent to 8.9 percent.
The lawsuit was brought against the county by 15 former female jail inmates who said they had been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted in the county jail by a volunteer deputy and jailers.
Volunteer Deputy Bill Sanders Sr. and jail administrator Lonnie Hunter were at the center of most of the allegations. Hunter was dismissed from the Sheriff's Office in November. Sanders was also dismissed from the Sheriff's Office and died in November 2008.
Original Print Headline: County approves sales-tax resolution
