Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett met with Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett on Wednesday to plan a campaign to get the state Legislature to allow cities to diversify their source of revenue.
Municipalities in the state get funding almost solely through sales tax, which the mayors argue leads to instability with the ebb and flow of retail sales. Started by the mayors of the state’s two largest cities, Bartlett said he hopes all the mayors in the state will join in the effort.
Wednesday’s meeting was in Oklahoma City and included each of the city’s finance directors, city managers, other top staff and Oklahoma Municipal League Executive Director Carolyn Stager.
Bartlett said the goal is to educate residents about the problem and to encourage legislation to change it.
Other major cities in other states have a diverse set of funding for their budgets, including property taxes, utility taxes, income taxes and others.
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Kansas City, for example, has a $500 million general fund that gets 41 percent from an earnings tax, 20 percent from a utility tax and 12 percent from property tax.
In comparison, Tulsa’s $260 million general fund is fueled by sales and use taxes, which make up about 65 percent.
Use taxes, similar to sales taxes, are paid for purchases outside the state, which is another focus of the mayors’ group since the state is having difficulty collecting use taxes due to Internet purchases.
While the big cities struggle with changing sales tax revenue, smaller cities could crumble if just one store shut down, Bartlett said.
“We made the point that if we don’t do anything about this problem in some manner, shape or form there will be cities that will not be able to afford a police department or a fire department,” he said.
A more diverse draw of city revenue would mean more stable budgets for city planning, Bartlett said.
Bartlett said there is no specific proposal, but the discussion included possibly asking the Legislature for a study to show the dangers of relying on sales tax.
