CLAREMORE - A percentage of a Rogers County sales tax dedicated to roads and bridges will go toward paying off a civil lawsuit award, if a ballot proposition is approved in August.
Because of a publication notice error, the Rogers County Board of Commissioners last month voted to nullify a May 14 vote that unofficially approved the renewal of the penny sales tax, rescheduling the election for Aug. 13.
Later at a special meeting, commissioners voted to dedicate one-eighth of that one-cent tax to a $32.375 million civil judgment to the Material Service Corp. mining company.
People in Rogers County already are paying for the Material Service judgment via a one-third-cent tax increase OK'd by voters in June.
Kirt Thacker, commission chair, sees the reallocation of the roads and bridges tax as a way to pay off the Material Service debt sooner and ultimately ease the tax burden on county communities.
"My theory is that if it's good for our cities, it's good for the county as well," he said.
The one-cent sales tax extension would be for five years. The one-eighth cent over that period would generate an estimated $4.2 million, said County Commissioner Mike Helm.
"We won't suffer (with roads) because we've done a good job with it," Thacker said. "We may have to pull off buying certain pieces of equipment. We might have to make something last one more year. But once we get that debt paid off, I think that takes a lot of burden off the taxpayer in Rogers County."
Helm voted against the debt allocation on the one-cent tax.
"The eighth of a penny is a drop in the bucket," he said. "You may pay it off six months early. But the $5 million that you're going to collect in this five years could go for bridges and roads. It could do 2 miles of road or it could do five bridges.
"I'm not for it at all. I don't want the people thinking we don't need the entire one cent."
Rogers County now owes less than $30 million on the Material Service award, Helm said.
The judgment to Material Service Corp. in 2009 was affirmed last year by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Material Service Corp. filed the action against the county in 2000. The company wasn't seeking monetary damages but wanted a determination by the court that the county had improperly annexed the property leased by Material Service, preventing it from mining there, an attorney for the company said.
After a change-of-venue request was granted, the inverse condemnation case went to trial in Mayes County in 2009, with the jury awarding Material Service $12.5 million. Prejudgment and post-judgment interest, attorneys fees and costs since the 2009 jury verdict pushed the amount to more than $32 million.
Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Rogers County voters to decide on tax
Local
An investigation into a Tulsa dentist has revealed that one person contracted hepatitis C as a result of a visit to that practice, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health and Tulsa Health Department.
The bus had two occupants, a driver and an 8-year-old girl. The driver had a suspended license, police said.
