OPINION
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When we go to the polls on March 5 to vote in Oklahoma’s presidential primary election, Democrats, Libertarians and Republicans will also have 3 county questions on their ballots. Ten years ago the citizens of Logan County voted to place a sales tax of 75% of 1 penny upon ourselves to support better roads and bridges, a well trained staff for the operational expense of the County Jail, and much better equipment for our 14 county fire departments.
At the request of the County fire chiefs, passage of these 3 propositions will simply extend (this is NOT a tax increase) this sales tax for 15 years rather than another 10 years. This is because the cost of fire trucks has increased so much they can’t pay them off in 10 years and financial institutions will not loan them enough for new equipment without knowing there is a reliable revenue stream for 15 years which is necessary to keep the payments on new equipment affordable.
My biggest problem with the ballot wording is that it is a little over complicated and more importantly it does not explain that we are only voting for an extension of an already existing sales tax. Voting YES on all 3 does not increase our taxes.
PROPOSITION NO. 1, is for better county roads and bridges. Last year this 25% of 1 penny raised almost a half million dollars for each commissioner. While that won’t quite pave a mile of county road, it will buy a huge amount of shale or gravel for our roads. This is very important for the ability of the commissioners to better serve the citizens in our districts.
PROPOSITION NO. 2, is for the operational expense of our county jail. Keeping citizens safe from bad actors is a 24-7365 days a year operation and is expensive. Having a good sheriff and well trained staff is vital. We recently had a county in Oklahoma housing an inmate that complained to the jail nurse of medical problems and was laughed at by the nurse and jailers then died the next day. The family sued in the federal court and got a 33 million dollar judgment against the county. The county insurance was limited to 2 million of that and now the residents have their property taxes raised to pay the other 31 million dollars. About 3 months ago the State Health Department conducted a surprise examination of our jail and found NO deficiencies. This 25% of 1 penney allows for a well trained staff and quality jail operations.
PROPOSITION NO. 3, is for continued support for our fire departments. All fire departments in the County are greatly improved over what they were 10 years ago because of this 25% of 1 penney tax. Because of Oklahoma’s propensity for high winds and plenty of dead grass, cedar trees and in some cases thick woods we are subject to dangerous fires that can roll through parts of our county at certain times of the year. Saturday, February 24th we had a fire get loose in District and burn hundreds of acres. While a few out buildings were lost many homes were saved by having a large number of fire trucks and brave firefighters respond to protect homes while additional trucks and fire fighters were able to stop the fire. It took all night and the next day to get the hot spots extinguished to prevent it from flaring up again. I take my hat off to the Logan County fire departments and to the many men and women who serve us, most of which are volunteers.
Vote yes on all 3 propositions to continue and expand on Logan County’s Success.
For more information, online voter tool and polling locations go to: www. logancountyok.com/168/ Election-Board