Tulsa World: Tulsa County won't challenge ballpark assessment

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Tulsa County won't challenge ballpark assessment

This aerial photo of the construction of ONEOK Field was taken on May 28. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World

By KEVIN CANFIELD and P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writers
Published: 6/23/2009 2:43 PM
Last Modified: 8/10/2009 1:00 PM

View a live feed of the construction of ONEOK, read previous stories, see renderings of the proposed stadium and view related documents.

Fifteen downtown property owners have filed a lawsuit challenging the Tulsa Stadium Improvement District assessment fee that is set to take effect July 1.

The defendants named in the lawsuit filed Monday in Tulsa County District Court are the city of Tulsa, Mayor Kathy Taylor and Director of Finance Mike Kier.

The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status to include other downtown property owners. They claim they were deprived of their rights to argue that the assessments on their respective properties were disproportionate to any benefit that would come from a new downtown baseball stadium.

The plaintiffs also claim they were denied the ability to complain or challenge the amount of the assessment. They allege that Kier, in a notice of an April City Council hearing on the district’s assessment roll, wrongfully informed potential objectors that the only issue that could be challenged was the accuracy of square-footage calculations.

The plaintiffs also claim their properties will not benefit at all or will benefit only minimally from the assessment, constituting a taking of their respective properties without just compensation.

It’s unclear whether the legal challenges, if successful, would jeopard

ize the construction of ONEOK Field, which is under way and set to be complete in time for the 2010 baseball season.

A portion of the assessment fee levied for 30 years will fund $25 million of the $39.2 million construction cost of the stadium for the city’s Double A baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers.

A $25 million revenue bond was issued in December to be repaid by the assessment fee. The first payment on the bond is due in November, officials have said.

The lawsuit is not the only legal challenge to the Downtown Stadium District. A pending lawsuit filed in July by some of the same property owners asks a judge to void the creation of the new improvement district.

County won’t sue: Meanwhile, the Board of County Commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday not to file a legal challenge to the assessment fee.

County Commissioners Fred Perry and Karen Keith voted against taking legal action. Commissioner John Smaligo voted to proceed with legal action.

The assessment fee approved by city councilors on June 4 requires property owners within the Inner Dispersal Loop to pay an annual fee of 6.5 cents per square foot of land and structure.

Of the total, 4.3 cents will go to construct the downtown ballpark, and the remaining 2.2 cents is to be used to pay for current downtown services such as landscaping and sweeping.

The county’s annual assessment, based on 11 properties, is $159,782. The county’s objection was only to the ballpark portion, amounting to $105,456 a year.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, county officials had argued that the county properties would receive no direct benefit from construction of the ballpark.

The council, joined by Tulsa County, sought an official legal opinion from the state attorney general but received only advice that assessments must be proportionate to benefit.

The council also was advised by the attorney general that it can adjust assessments to reflect an appropriate benefit for property owners who filed timely protests at the council’s April hearing on the assessment roll.

The city’s Legal Department disagreed with the attorney general, saying the time to contest the roll was last July, when the Tulsa Stadium District was created.

Smaligo said the attorney general’s advice “clearly stated that the assessment has to be based on the direct benefit for the property and property owners, and unfortunately, I believe that advice was ignored by the City Council.”

Keith disagreed and said county properties would show a benefit from the assessment district.

Property owners have until Wednesday to challenge their assessments.

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By KEVIN CANFIELD and P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writers

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "15 suing city over fee for ballpark," which was published on 6/24/2009. So far, 65 comments have been made.