Top 6 Reasons I'm Voting No.
1. Whose projects are these?- The projects listed are a wish list for city council members; the convention center, Oklahoma River, and downtown park are project most citizens will not benefit from directly or use with any real frequency, however developers will. According the maps.org website the #1 concern for OKC citizens was an improved mass transit system (668 requests); the mass transit included will only cover downtown. However a new convention center will be built at a cost of $280 million dollars (twice the sum allotted for mass trans).
2.The City Needs Money For Other Projects- The city manager sent a memo to all department heads telling them to cut their budgets by 2% for the next fiscal year. If the city has to cut maintenance budgets, who's going to upkeep the improvements to the Oklahoma River additions. If the police have to cut their budget, who's going to patrol the new 70 acre park we're creating. The police and fire department have seen increases of less than 1% while the population has grown by 15%.
3. Hurting the Poorest Citizens- Sales taxes are regressive, and its estimated the poorest 60% of OKC citizens pay approx. 6% of their income in sales tax, while the richest citizens only pay 2%. Off the $777 million only $160 million will be spent outside of downtown. The $130 million dollar downtown park could pay for nearly 1000 state-of-the-art neighborhood parks (or at least prevent many parks from closing and reopen closed parks) (source: Oklahoma City Herald).
4. Socialism for the Rich?- This will be the second time the citizens have funded private project with large tax subsidies. We are currently paying a 1 cent sales tax to pay for the Ford Center (at the cost of mass transit); Clay Bennett could have easily had investor pay for the renovation. The fairgrounds already receive hotel sales tax and generate a considerable amount of income; let the State Fair Trust pay for their upgrades.
5. Best time?- Natural gas prices are down; Devon loped off a few stories on its tower and Chesapeake has greatly slowed is expansion. Unemployment, while comparatively low, is rising and tax revenue is down and has been for some time. Will sales tax really generate that much? Conventions are on a downturn and recent building sprees have saturated the market.
6. Big Questions- The ballot is simply to approve a sales tax, there is little check to make sure that projects won't be cut or that money is spent correctly. A citizen's advisory board will be selected by... the mayor (that's checks and balances). There is no timeline or deadlines for this project and little information available.
http://www.okgazette.com/p/12776/a/5040/Default.aspxReturnUrl=LwBEAGUAZgBhAHUAbAB0AC4AYQBzAHAAeAAslashAHAAPQAxADIANwAyADkA
http://www.okc.gov/AgendaPub/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=821&doctype=AGENDA
http://killthemapstax.com/No__Top_10_Reasons.html
http://www.okgazette.com/p/12776/a/4716/Default.aspxReturnUrl=LwBEAGUAZgBhAHUAbAB0AC4AYQBzAHAAeAAslashAHAAPQAxADIANwAyADkA#sur
http://nomaps3.com/
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