Tulsa’s November Ballot About To Get (More) Confusing
City, county sales tax proposals to make a busy Nov. 12 ballot for Tulsa County
BY KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz’s petition to hold a Nov. 12 countywide election on a 0.167 percent sales tax to fund criminal justice projects has thrown yet another wrinkle in an already confusing election year.
• In June, Tulsans voted in their first nonpartisan mayoral primary, with former Mayor Kathy Taylor and current Mayor Dewey Bartlett moving on to the Nov. 12 general election.
• Then there is the city’s proposed $919.9 million capital improvements package. Bartlett and the City Council are still fine-tuning the proposal, but it’s all but certain to be on the Nov. 12 ballot; and with it will come the city’s separate request to renew a 1.167 percent sales tax to help fund it.
• To add to the confusion, 0.167 percent of the 1.167 percent city sales used to be a county tax. It funded the former 4-to-Fix the County, and Glanz is trying to recapture that tax.
• In 2008, Tulsans voted to capture the 0.167 county tax when it expired in October 2011. Since then, it’s helped fund the $452 million Fix Our Streets package. The tax expires June 30, 2014, and city officials want to renew it to help fund their proposed $919.9 million capital package.