Tulsa’s top elected officials are deciding whether to hold an election on a sales tax increase.
Mayor Monroe Nichols pushed hard Wednesday for such a referendum at a meeting of the Tulsa City Council Urban & Economic Development Committee.
The meeting became heated at times.
Several city councilors, like Phil Lakin of District 8 and Lori Decter Wright of District 7, said they need more time to educate the public on what the increase would mean for residents’ pocketbooks.
“We have a process that we’ve used, similar to the process that Oklahoma City has used with MAPS, where we really engage deeply with the people we’re asking to ultimately adopt and support this," Lakin said.
“For the public, who’s just hearing all of this for the first time, really what’s on the table is: 'Do you want to pay more sales tax that would put $80 million into the general fund? That then every year the council and the mayor would negotiate?'” said Decter Wright.
Nichols announced his proposal on Monday, a Feb. 10 referendum asking Tulsa voters to approve increasing the city’s sales tax from 3.65% to 4.35%, or about 0.7 of a penny. Tulsa has one of the lowest sales tax rates in the region.
The mayor wants more funding for Tulsa’s police and fire departments, as well as programs to end homelessness.
In order to make a public referendum happen, city council needs to sign off on it with a Nov. 19 vote.
Nichols pushed back against councilors' concerns, saying the extra money is needed.
“We’re making the choice that we’re not gonna invest in these things because we think that maybe people might go shop somewhere else," Nichols said.
The grueling meeting that lasted more than two hours ended on a tepidly positive note, with the mayor and councilors reaffirming shared respect and commitment to work together.
