Tuesday is an election in Tulsa to extend a third-penny sales tax for capital improvements throughout the city.
It's not a sales-tax increase; it's an extension of the current third-penny sales tax that's in effect. The old third-penny is set to expire, and the election Tuesday will allow voters to decide whether to extend it, fund new capital-improvement projects and finish old ones that didn't get completed because revenues came up short during the last third-penny period.
To see an overview of the third-penny and its list of projects, go here.
Route 66 News endorses the third-penny in particular because about a quarter of the $16 million in Arkansas River development money will go toward helping build a Route 66 museum. Passing the third-penny will help free up several million dollars of the $15 million Vision 2025 fund for other projects and improvements along Route 66 in Tulsa County.
The museum remains an important future attraction to Tulsa, but it was going to be a Vision 2025 money-eater. The third-penny would help ease this. For a more detailed explanation of the museum, go here.
The third-penny has gained wide support. The current mayor supports it. The previous mayor supports it. All of the current city councilors — which include Democrats and Republicans — are on record as supporting it. But getting out the vote Tuesday will be important because you always have a certain percentage of people who will vote against a tax, no matter how necessary it is.
The third-penny also is proving to be important because the city is going through a budget crunch and has almost no money in its coffers for capital improvements. Without the third-penny, many of the street improvements and other projects simply won't get done.
So head to your Tulsa precinct Tuesday and vote "yes."