The Eufaula City Council has decided the best way to pay for street improvements is by increasing the city sales tax, which will require a vote of the people.
A general obligation bond (property tax) option was rejected.
No decision was made at the Nov. 12 meeting as to how much of a tax increase they would ask for, but they are considering either 1 percent or ½ percent.
The council is expected to make that decision at a special meeting set for Thursday, Nov. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.
The current sales tax in Eufaula is 3.5 percent, compared to 4 percent in Checotah, Warner, and Henryetta and 4.375 percent in Durant. The tax in McAlester is 3.75 percent.
All of the council members agreed they don’t like the idea of raising taxes, but they also don’t like the idea of people driving on streets that are deteriorating.
“We can’t just ignore it,” said Vice Mayor James Hickman. “They’re going to get worse and worse. They’re not going to get better magically.
“This is the first time the city has ever put together a plan for road improvements that I know of.”
But, he said, increasing the sales tax must be decided on by voters.
The council instructed City Manager Jeb Jones and City Attorney Kay Wall to draw up two Street Improvement Funding Election Resolutions for funding street improvements – one resolution is to be for a 1-cent sales tax the other is a half-cent tax.
The council members will have time to discuss the resolutions with their constituents before a decision on which of the two taxes will be voted on.
A 1-cent sales tax would service an $8.5 million loan and be paid off in 15 years.
The resolutions will be on either the Dec. 2 agenda or Jan. 1, 2025, agenda.
Jones said a resolution must be voted on no later than Jan. 20, 2025 so that it can be voted on April 1.
It must pass by a simple majority – 50 percent, plus 1.
If the resolution is approved by voters, the new tax would begin on July 1, 2025, the first day of the next quarter.
The city would begin seeing the money from the increase in September 2025.
Jones said the council hasn’t decided exactly which streets would be affected. The variable will be how many streets are overlaid and which streets are reconstructed. “Based on a mixture of overlaying and reconstruction, I would estimate 10 to 11 miles of streets would be worked on,” Jones said.
