Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum presented a slightly bigger Improve Our Tulsa plan Wednesday to city councilors.
The new version adds six additional months of sales tax collections on the back end, making it $639 million over six and a half years rather than $597 million over six years.
The additional $42 million will go toward fixing city-owned bridges, bringing public rights-of-way in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and supplying local funds for the Route 66 bus rapid transit line.
"That six-month extension affords us the opportunity to do really important infrastructure work without taking money away from our streets program," Bynum said.
Streets and transportation account for 70 percent of the renewal. Other tweaks include $6 million to start implementing the city's downtown Arena District Master Plan and enough money to replace all fire trucks by the end of the funding package.
The changes came after a first round of several public meetings.
"We’ve really tried to take into account the needs of every single citizen and the needs of the City of Tulsa as a whole," said City Councilor Phil Lakin.
And while parks will still get $30 million in the current plan, Bynum said officials learned from the last Improve Our Tulsa, where city hall chose all the park improvements.
"We never went out and met with the people who use those parks to find out what they wanted in their parks. And so, instead, what we’re talking about is funding an overall amount and then really having councilors and park staff go out to meet with the folks who use these parks and develop plans for individual parks based on what people want," Bynum said.
The current plan calls for $10.1 million in a park infrastructure fund, $5.5 million in a play amenities fund, and $4.8 million in a tennis court repair or replacement fund.
A second round of public meetings is expected between mid-July and early August. City officials plan to put the Improve Our Tulsa renewal to a vote in November and face a deadline of Aug. 7 to get it on the ballot.
