Oklahoma County commissioners have another sales tax proposal to fund the construction and operation of a new county jail to consider.
The Citizens Bond Oversight Advisory Board unanimously approved the proposal during a special meeting Tuesday. It would create a four-tenths-of-a-cent tax, and could last from 25 to 30 years.
The tax would be used to fill in the multimillion dollar budget gap to replace Oklahoma County's plagued detention center. Voters overwhelmingly approved a $260 million bond to fund the construction of a new jail in 2022, but the facility's price tag ballooned before the county was able to break ground.
Construction on the Behavioral Care Center designed to be next to the new jail is already underway. It is being funded with pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which must be spent by the end of 2026. County officials chose to forge ahead with the project, even though the future of the new jail has been in limbo.
The new sales tax would cost Oklahoma County shoppers an extra 4 cents for every $10 they spend in the county. It is expected to generate about $600 million over the next few decades.
Previous efforts to create a jail sales tax have failed to garner enough support, but District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan told KFOR a tax may be necessary to complete the project.
"I know there's no other way to do it," he said. "I can't build it out of air. I have tried to stretch the dollars that we had available as far as we could but there's no infrastructure project in America that is not either financed through bonds or sales tax."
The advisory board also approved several safeguards governing the tax and its uses. The new jail cannot exceed 800,000 square feet or have more than 1,800 beds, the board decided. County officials also added a stipulation that any interest generated on the tax revenue must be spent on the jail.
It is up to county commissioners to put the decision in front of voters. In order for the tax to appear on the November ballot, commissioners have to make a decision before August 19.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
