Tulsa County wins tax protests
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World staff writer
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
A series of tax protests filed against Tulsa County, the Tulsa City-County Library, the Tulsa City-County Health Department and the Tulsa Technology Center school district have been dismissed, court records show.
The four protests, filed by Don Wyatt of Broken Arrow, alleged the county budget board did not follow proper procedure in its allocation of property tax revenue for the last budget year. Wyatt recently filed a similar protest over allocations for the current budget year.
County Commissioner John Smaligo, the budget board chairman, said: "We are pleased, but not surprised by the ruling from the Court of Tax Review. At this point, our budget has been reviewed and upheld by our district attorney, attorney general and the courts. A tribunal of officials and judges confirmed we are doing this correctly and according to state law. I appreciate that this three-judge panel has vindicated our budget process.”
Some Tulsa County residents, including County Assessor Ken Yazel, have challenged the county's budget process, saying the county and its affiliated entities, including the library and health department, and Tulsa Tech, should not be allocated the full amounts specified in statute and the state Constitution because they maintain relatively large cash reserves.
