Eufaula voters will decide in a special election on Feb. 12, 2025 whether they want their streets fixed in a capital improvement project.
At a special meeting on Thursday, Nov. 21 the city council agreed to ask voters to increase the city sales tax by 1 cent in order to raise $8.5 million for the project.
They decided they would have a special election on a date in which there are no other issues on the ballot.
“They felt it would be better for this subject to be a stand alone issue all by itself. It’s that important,”Jones said.
The council debated whether to raise the tax 1 or ½ cent for the streets.
City Manager Jeb Jones said a ½ cent tax would only raise about $4.5 million, just enough money to overlay the selected streets, not enough to rebuild any.
“Everyone on the council felt like 1 percent is the way to go because of the quantity of work we need to do,”Jones said. “It will give us the big- gest bang for the buck.”
The city’s 1-cent additional tax would also increase the income from a usage tax that the city voted in several years ago. The usage tax is collected on sales at distant locations by a person living in Eufaula – for example if a person buys something online at Amazon, Amazon charges the tax and sends it to the city.
When the usage tax ordinance was enacted, it was agreed to spend the added income on recreation and economic development.
If voters agree in February to the tax hike, the city can create an $8.5 million loan package, move forward with engineering and create a final work plan.
“The engineers’ assessment will determine where the project will start,’’Jones said.
If passed, the tax will be in effect for 15 years. The street project is expected to be finished in two years.
Jones said the streets are in bad shape, just like the water and sewer lines were when work began on them.
If voters decide on a i/ 2– cent sales tax, there would not be much improvement to the streets.
“It would basically be an overlay, only,” he said. “No rebuilding, just cover cracks and pot holes.”
Some streets need to be replaced, drainage repaired, base fixed.
“Your road is only as good as what is underneath,’’Jones said.
A 1-cent sales tax would bump Eufaula’s tax from 3.5 cents to 4.5 cents, making it one of the highest in the area. The current sales tax in Checotah and Henryetta is 4 percent; Durant, 4.375 percent; in Warner, 5 percent. The tax in McAlester is 3.75 percent.
“It goes back to, you can equate it just like the water and sewer systems, which were in such bad shape,’’Jones said. “It’s where we’re at and what we have to do to get it done.”
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.
There are 41.75 miles of streets in Eufaula.
Background supplied by Jones On September 9, 2019, the City Council adopted Strategic Pillars, which called for identifying additional funding sources for infrastructure improvements and beginning to address major roadway improvements.
During discussions that followed the initiation of our water and sewer improvements, it was decided to delay any discussions or improvement planning for future councils at a time when the water and sewer improvements had moved forward far enough to warrant making it possible to revisit this discussion.
I feel that we have reached that point in time to resume those discussions. I see the discussion as defining what streets will be addressed, deciding what level of improvements the identified streets require, and what level of funding will be required to accomplish the desired results.
There are three basic funding sources for street improvements: 1) Grants, which are limited and generally tailored towards state, tribal, or large government entities. 2) General Obligation Bonds, which require a vote of the municipal population, and the cost burden rests on property owners, and 3) Sales Tax, which requires a vote of the municipal population but spreads the cost burden across residents and non-residents alike through retail transactions.
I have provided you with estimated financial projections related to a 1-cent sales tax increase that would generate approximately $8.5 million and a GO Bond estimate using $2.7 million in revenue, but which can be scaled to $8.5 million for comparison purposes.
We have two potential timelines that could be followed to secure the necessary funding for street improvements.
