TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and the city council gathered at City Hall on Wednesday to announce their intent to draft an Improve Our Tulsa renewal plan.
During Summer of 2023, Tulsa citizens will be given the chance to fund a $609 million improvement package that city officials said will not raise taxes.
The funding will be determined by elections through General Obligation Bond Issues and extensions of the 2008 Third Penny Sales Tax.
“This is the city’s basic capital improvements program that we use to provide police cars, fire trucks, fixed streets and keep city facilities in good condition and this? We can do all of these things without an increase in our existing level of taxation with a four year extension. So that shouldn’t be hard to pass,” Bynum said.
In 2013, Tulsa residents approved a $918.7 million Improve Our Tulsa package, a $639 million package in 2019 and this upcoming $609 million package proposal will allow the extension of repairs and improvement by another four years.
“The last time that we did this, we brought it up in 2019, it passed by the largest margin of any citywide vote in Tulsa history,” Bynum said. “We don’t take anything for granted and the council and I are going to work together very closely and very hard over the next several months to put together a program that we feel every Tulsan can have confidence in.”
City officials said they have toured facilities in need of repair and improvement and planned several meetings and discussions to prepare a draft proposal prior to the summer election.
Some of the areas officials have noted are in need of improvement include the Municipal Court and Tulsa Police Department Headquarters, Tulsa Animal Welfare, Tulsa Fire Department Headquarters, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements in City facilities and Tulsa Fire Department apparatus and vehicles.
“So the city council and I, we took a tour of city facilities. What we saw was, in police headquarters, they cannot drink the water that comes out of the taps in that building because the lead in the water lines is so high, it’s dangerous for human consumption. We saw municipal courtrooms where the judges know exactly where to lay out the buckets when sewage starts dripping through the ceilings so that they can keep their court sessions going, even those sewage is dripping into their courtroom. We saw fire headquarters. When the Arkansas River gets to a certain level, they go ahead and take all the furniture in the building and put it up on their desks because fire headquarters is in a floodplain. We saw so many examples of deferred maintenance on city buildings and where we asked city employees and the public to utilize facilities that are in horrible condition and we need to improve them. And this program would allow us to do that,” Bynum said.
Previously, this funding has gone heavily toward street maintenance and repair. Despite officials still planning to address city street improvement in this year’s funding proposal, facility repair could be at the forefront.
“Since voters first approved the original Improve Our Tulsa sales tax package a decade ago, Tulsans have been a part of the largest streets improvement program in our city’s history and we have made significant progress as it relates to improving our streets and infrastructure,” Bynum said. “Because of these investments by Tulsans, in the next installment of Improve Our Tulsa we have the opportunity to properly maintain city facilities that have been overlooked for far too long while enhancing the mission critical responses of our public safety departments and proactively protecting our street assets.”
“I’m pleased that we are being proactive in addressing shortfalls caused by inflation so that we can move forward with much-needed upgrades to Animal Welfare and other city facilities so that we can more effectively provide crucial services to all Tulsans,” Tulsa City Council Chair Crista Patrick said.
For more information about the past Improve Our Tulsa packages, click here.
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