COLLINSVILLE, Okla. — Collinsville Police and Fire Chiefs said the community will be safer after voters decided to approve a sales tax increase.
The money will help expand the police and fire services in the fast-growing city.
Collinsville Police Chief Matthew Burke said he’s now going to be able to expand his police department.
“It’s great for Collinsville,” he said. “This is going to increase public safety. They’re going to have more officers, better facilities to work out of, and it’s going to make a safer Collinsville.”
Collinsville’s Half Penny Tax passed by 403 votes in the city. Police said this means they’ll be able to spend $1.9 million to almost double the size of their building.
“It’s going to mean more officers in the streets, more officers on at a time,” Burke said. “It’s going to mean more detectives to investigate their crime more thoroughly. It’s also going to mean they’re going to get new services.
Since 2020, the City of Collinsville said their population has grown by six percent. With new neighborhoods being built to the west side of town, Fire Chief Harold Call told FOX23 he’s now going to be able to build a satellite station in that area and add some additional firefighters.
“It’s huge for the fire department,” Call said. “It’s huge for the community.”
Call also said they don’t know where the new fire station will be built at this time, but it should be in the area near Sheridan and HWY 20. Building the new station will cost between $2 million and $2.5 million, according to Call.
The tax increase will also cut drastically down on police and fire response times, according to both chiefs.
“Currently it takes us six to seven minutes in the response time out to the west side of town. So this will reduce it down to two to three minutes so it will greatly help us with car wrecks.”
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