Tulsa’s Vision renewal tax package, pondered by city officials for years, might have veered in a new direction Thursday, a week ahead of a deadline to finalize the entire $1.17 billion proposal.
A meeting in Tulsa City Council chambers concluded with the beginnings of a proposal to split the entire package into two separate votes.
One vote would be on Vision economic-development projects as soon as April, and another vote would take place later to address operational needs that have long been a part of the Vision proposal.
The approach, as proposed Thursday, would result in putting an option before voters to raise taxes — either sales taxes or property taxes.
The council decided to schedule a special meeting for Tuesday to discuss a full proposal.
Councilor Karen Gilbert, with support from Councilor Blake Ewing, introduced the idea of revamping the Vision package, saying she wants “everything on the table.”
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“We’re doing the best we can to make sure that the departments, police and fire, are taken care of for generations on out,” Gilbert said.
She said she isn’t concerned about damaging the work that has been done to form the package as it stands today. Her focus, she said, is on bringing the right package to voters.
“I don’t think it’s risky,” Gilbert said. “I just think that we make sure we do our due diligence. … You know, things might not change. Who knows?”
The problems councilors are hoping to resolve are related to Improve Our Tulsa street funding the Vision proposal co-opted in December.
During the December meeting, Paul Zachary, director of the city’s Engineering Services Department, pointed toward the nearly $240 million shortfall in street funding that would result from the two-year extension of Improve Our Tulsa and absence of general obligation bonds.
On Thursday, Zachary gave a full report that showed progress on improving street conditions would be lost if funding dried up for two to three years.
Bartlett made a pitch to cut projects to make up some of the funding needed for streets but did not offer a solution to cover the entirety of the gap. The reaction to the report led to the proposal from Gilbert and Ewing to look at the overall revenue approach to Vision.
Ewing said Tulsa voters have raised taxes before, pointing to the original Vision 2025 vote that approved a full 1 percent sales tax, including a $350 million incentive for Boeing that never went into effect.
“I think it was obvious today,” Ewing said about the report on street funding issues. “No matter how you slice it, there isn’t enough revenue.”
The Vision tax package, as proposed prior to Thursday, would occupy 0.55 of the 0.6 percent expiring tax. It would also take over upcoming general obligation bonds and include a two-year extension of Improve Our Tulsa.
Out of those revenues, a third would become a permanent tax dedicated to public safety; a portion would go toward transit operations; and the remaining $642 million would go to economic development projects that include Arkansas River low-water dams, parks and amenities.
Ewing said his proposal will be to strip public safety and other operations needs from Vision to be a part of a future vote to raise taxes, leaving general obligations bonds and Improve Our Tulsa revenues alone.
“I think we got some feedback from the town halls that the people want a vote on Vision and then on public safety, operations things,” Ewing said.
The proposal also offers a much simpler set of ballot questions for voters, he said. At most, officials said Vision would come with seven items for voters to approve.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett, who has staunchly opposed any tax raise, said he would not support raising taxes with Vision. Bartlett said Vision funding should be used to focus on operations needs.
“That’s a killer,” Bartlett said. “We’ve said for three years or more that we need to live within our means. … I think a tax increase is a death sentence.”
Ewing said he thinks the need is great enough that the council might pursue the separate vote “even if it means the mayor is not on board.”
“I don’t know that the mayor is in line with the council on this,” Ewing said. “I’m just hopeful that the mayor’s race and mayoral politics don’t get in the way.”
A mayoral election primary will be held in June, and the general election will be in November. Councilor G.T. Bynum has announced that he will run for mayor, and Bartlett is expected to run for re-election.
