City councilors say the capital improvements proposal headed to their desks Thursday is the best possible result of nearly four dozen public meetings and countless hours of work, notwithstanding some final-hour drama with the county.
"The result of the overwhelming public participation and the scrutiny ... by each councilor is that we ended up with a proposal which the general public seems pleased with, which is the point of the exercise," Councilor G.T. Bynum said Wednesday.
Councilors plan a 6 p.m. vote to send two ballot propositions to voters Nov. 12 - one extending 1.167 percent in sales taxes for $563.7 million in infrastructure and related projects and another to authorize issuing $355 million in general obligation bonds strictly for street repairs.
The $918.7 million total would be the most money proposed on a single Tulsa ballot and includes what would be the city's largest investment in street repairs, with $470 million.
"We focused in on what the voters have wanted, and that's streets," Councilor Phil Lakin said. "But the great thing about this that is different from previous packages is that it's not just about streets.
"We're taking care of the critical capital needs with the other portion of this."
The proposal, which includes $654.2 million for transportation projects such as street repairs and widening and new public buses, also funds projects such as police and fire equipment, city facility renovations and park equipment.
Nonarterial street rehabilitation - largely in neighborhoods - would make up the bulk of the bond proposition, while the sales tax portion would fund most of the proposal's arterial street rehabilitation and all of its other projects.
"It's kind of the nonsexy nuts and bolts of municipal infrastructure, but I think it starts there," Councilor Blake Ewing said. "If we take care of those things, then we have things on which to build in the future."
Councilors and Mayor Dewey Bartlett's office crafted the proposal based on $1.4 billion in needs identified by city departments and facilities for fiscal years 2015-2019.
That total was whittled down during 46 public meetings, by the council's count - including two rounds of town hall meetings attended by hundreds of residents.
The only blemish on an otherwise seamless process has come in the last few weeks, when city and county officials have squabbled over the proposal - at least, in the public's eyes, councilors said.
Late last month, County Commissioner Karen Keith and Sheriff Stanley Glanz proposed funding a juvenile justice center and additional pods at the Tulsa Jail with a separate 0.167-cent tax proposal this November.
The city's proposal includes its share of the county's former 0.167-cent 4 to Fix the County tax.
Officials failed this week to reach a compromise that would 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.
"Far and away, if there's a disappointing part of this, it's been this curveball in the final weeks," Ewing said.
Capital funding proposal*
Sales tax proposition
Tax: 1.167 percent (extends third-penny and 0.167-cent taxes)
Funding: $563.7 million
Timing: From July 1, 2014, to until the amount is raised (estimated 5 1/2 to 6 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 non-arterial street widening; $80 million for arterials
*Not yet finalized
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Tax, bond proposals await Council
