For every speaker at Tuesday night's final town hall meeting on the city's proposed $920 million capital improvements package who talked about the need for more sidewalks, there was, it seemed, another person who is concerned about the interest the city would have to pay to get the projects completed.
Gerry Stanton, 83, told the crowd of about 150 people gathered at Carbondale Assembly of God in west Tulsa that she was strongly in favor of slow transit.
"Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot - yes, sidewalks," she said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
Alani Taylor took a more direct tone, calling it "nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense" that the city has sidewalks that stop in the middle of the street.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett was moved enough by the speakers to stand up at the end of the meeting to try to explain the city's policy regarding the construction of sidewalks.
He explained that under the city's new complete streets program, the city does more than throw asphalt on arterial streets to improve them.
"We will go through and not just do the road work, but we will do everything beneath it. Pipes will be replaced, water, sewer - sanitary sewer as well as storm sewer," Bartlett said. "When the whole project is complete, there will be at least one sidewalk left behind, and hopefully it will be two."
City officials admit that when it comes to putting in sidewalks, the city is playing catch-up. Sidewalks are now part of the city's subdivision regulations, but that was not the case in the 1970s and '80s.
Where there are two sidewalks, the city works to replace both, and at least one sidewalk is constructed where none existed, city officials have said.
At least three speakers stood to caution the city against borrowing money to pay for the proposal.
The city plans to use general obligations bonds to fund $355 million of the package, with the remainder to be paid with sales-tax revenue.
The city estimates the interest cost on those bonds to be about $129 million, with the bonds not to exceed 25 years and most to be 20-year bonds.
General obligation bonds are paid with property taxes.
For the package now under consideration, a property owner with a $100,000 home would see no more than a $20 increase in the city's portion of property taxes.
The city has designed its funding package so that its portion of property taxes would not reach more than 22 mills, with that figure to decline in the next five to six years as bonds are paid off.
City Finance Director Mike Kier said the city chooses to use the property tax to help fund its capital improvements packages in part because it "broadens the sources that can be used to pay for the program."
He also echoed a point made by a speaker who was not so upset about the city's borrowing money: It will likely be cheaper to borrow now than to wait and pay more for materials and supplies later.
"You can avoid paying the interest, but by the time you could gather up sufficient funds (to pay for the projects), you will see project costs go up," he said. "You avoid the interest, but you pay for the inflation."
Kier also noted that contrary to what a least one speaker said Tuesday night, Oklahoma City does use bonds to help pay for its capital improvements packages.
Several speakers took advantage of the westside venue to pitch projects proposed for that area of town, including extension of the Gilcrease Expressway and funding for the Route 66 Village.
The city held five town hall meetings on its proposed capital improvements package and is taking the input gathered at those meetings to fine-tune its project list. The City Council is expected to vote Aug. 22 to put the package on the Nov. 12 ballot.
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
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