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Note: The south Tulsa/Jenks low-water dam would not be funded if Jenks residents fail to approve funding for the project. If Jenks residents fail to fund the dam and Tulsa residents approve funding for the project, the city would not collect the sales tax needed for the dam or would use the revenue to fund projects on a contingency list. Those details are being worked out and will be voted on by the City Council next week.
Tulsans Revolt Against New Tax Plan
Guest opinion, by George McFarlin
On April 5th Tulsa voters will be asked to INCREASE the city of Tulsa sales tax rate by 6/10th cent. The question remains:
WHEN IS ENOUGH EVER ENOUGH FOR GOVERNMENT TAX AND SPEND PROGRAMS?
FACTS ABOUT THE VISION FOREVER SALES TAX
The Tulsa City Council is rushing to get the new "Vision" tax on the ballot for April. The current Vision 2025 tax doesn't expire until the end of the year, so they could wait until June (the city, state, and federal primary date) or November (city, state, and federal general election) and avoid the cost of a special election. Why don't they?
Not only is the proposed package far from a cohesive vision, but the Basis of Estimate (BoE) -- the details that justify the amount budgeted -- for each item is dreadfully inadequate. There's reason to believe that the estimates are way off, which means that some ideas that could be funded won't be, and other ideas will be promised (like the low-water dams in Vision 2025, or the juvenile justice facility in Four to Fix the County) and attract votes, but won't have any possibility of being built without going back to the voters for more money.
But there is a new practice that could be used to keep the Tulsa County GOP from taking a clear stand. Subcommittees are allowed to pull planks out of their section if they call for specific legislative action. These removed planks would be placed in a "legislative action document" to be sent to legislative leaders for their consideration. I was given mixed signals about whether this document would be considered as part of the platform as published and whether it would be available to the general public. This new document has the potential for being used as a pretext for pulling anti-Dam-Tax resolutions out of the platform. Beyond that specific concern, this new approach seems to reduce the platform to a grab-bag of suggestions, rather than the party grassroots speaking collectively on issues of concern. This new approach was not brought before the platform committee for debate or approval.
America Asks for Clarification of "Vague" Dam Ordinance
As Tulsa’s city council worked on finalizing ordinances dealing with the proposed Vision funding package this week, Councilor Anna America expressed concerns about a lack of details in the ordinance dealing with low-water dams.
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