Hey, BA! Vote Yourself a Tax Cut on August 11th!

On August 11th, Broken Arrow will be voting on a Bond Issue. Before I get into the details, let me pass on some words from Major Ken Yazel, Tulsa County Tax Assessor.

Here is what my call to anyone would be regarding this surprise ballot
issue:

Hello this is your Tulsa County Assessor
Ken Yazel. Calling to alert you to a very serious matter.

The County I serve is the highest taxed county in the state of Oklahoma. The city of Broken Arrow is the highest taxed City!

While most of us were vacationing this summer, the local leaders have put forth a ballot issue to raise our taxes even higher.

Higher taxes should not be a part of any plan for our future!

Please join in voting NO on Tuesday August 11th. You must voice your opinion at the ballot box to stop these high taxes.

Hope you agree.

Very Respectfully,
Major Ken

Ok, with that said, here is what is at issue on August 18th:

• $8 million to convert the existing military armory at Kenosha Street and Lynn Lane Road into a public safety complex to serve as headquarters for the police and fire departments and an emergency operations center. (What's wrong with our current HQ? Is the City of Broken Arrow trying to pull a Kathy Taylor, and just move because they want to?)

• calls for an $8 million expenditure to add a second story and equip a long-discussed conference center that will sit next to a privately funded hotel in the StoneWood Hills development. (Why should we spend PUBLIC MONEY, on a PRIVATE BUSINESS? Instead, give the business an incentive to move here through tax incentives!)

• seeks voter approval to use $140,000 OK’d in 1993 to provide loans for business owners wishing to renovate facades of businesses along Main Street between College and Memphis streets. Wooden said some loans were made, but none have been requested in recent years, leading the city to propose a broader economic develop use for the funds within the entire downtown area. (If the money is no longer needed, give it back to the citizens of Broken Arrow!)

• involves a shifting of five street improvement projects approved in 2004

They include:

• Olive from Kenosha to Houston - two lane with turn lanes only; full curb
and guttering; open drainage.

• Olive from Houston to Washington - two lane with turn lanes only; full curb
and guttering; open drainage.

• New Orleans from Ninth St. to 23rd St. - three lane the entire length; curb
and guttering on arterial intersections only; open drainage.

• Washington from Main to Ninth St. - three lane to east end of Arrowhead
Parking lot; full curb and guttering; open drainage.

• Ninth St. from Albany to Omaha - four lane, except five lanes at arterials
and Juneau; curb and guttering on arterial and Juneau intersections only; open
drainage.

(Let's complete the projects we voted on last time, instead of moving them because the City can't get landowners to sell their frontage at an absurdly low rate!)

Polls open at 7 a.m. Monday. See this week’s Broken Arrow Ledger for a complete list of polling places and copies of the ballots that will be used.

VOTE NO ON ALL 4 ISSUES!!!