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2023 Oklahoma school & municipal elections

April 4, 2023, is general election day across Oklahoma for school board races and for municipalities that use the default forms of municipal government established by state statute. Many cities with city charters that define a customized government structure still use the default dates for city elections. As is...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 3, 2023 3:49 PM

Sapulpa Route 66 Christmas Chute, Rhema Lights final nights

The Route 66 Christmas Chute on Dewey Avenue in downtown Sapulpa, Oklahoma, has just two more nights to run, but it continues to be a popular attraction two months after its opening on November 3, 2022. Ten overhanging steel structures decorated with a variety of themes stand in the...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 31, 2022 12:13 PM

2021 School & Municipal General Election: BatesLine ballot card

Below are my thoughts on some of the races in the Oklahoma school board and municipal general election on April 6, 2021, along with links to candidate websites, social media profiles, and candidate forums for elections and bond issues on Tuesday's ballot in Tulsa County.

Posted by Michael Bates on April 6, 2021 7:00 PM

Vision2: A better vision for Broken Arrow, Glenpool, and Owasso

I've started to put together a series of fliers explaining why Vision2 hurts Tulsa County's municipalities and how these cities would be better off enacting a city sales tax to replace the Vision 2025 county sales tax when it expires on the last day of 2016. Here are the first...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 24, 2012 12:53 AM

Vision2 ripoff: Broken Arrow would double money going it alone

Tulsa isn't the only city that would be a fiscal loser if Vision2 is approved by voters in November. A BatesLine analysis of tax revenues has determined that Tulsa County's second-largest city, Broken Arrow, would receive only half as much money under Vision2 as it would if it implemented the...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 7, 2012 7:23 AM

Stonewood Cafe grand reopening in Broken Arrow

As regular readers will attest, I like coffee almost as much as I like coffeehouses, and I keep my eyes out for locally-owned coffeehouses everywhere I go. When I'm in BA and in need of some good coffee and a place to do some work over a breakfast sandwich, I...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 5, 2012 6:49 PM

Jenks and Owasso voters give higher taxes thumbs-down

Jenks and Owasso voters turned down property tax increases (general obligation bond issues) by overwhelming margins on Tuesday, while Broken Arrow school district voters approved a reallocation of an existing bond issue that involved no tax increase at all. According to KRMG News, the Owasso tax increase would have amounted...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 12, 2011 1:08 AM

Bond issues today: Broken Arrow schools, Cities of Owasso and Jenks

Voters in two Tulsa County municipalities and a school district will go to the polls today to vote on general obligation bond issues. General obligation bond issues are funded by a property tax increase -- the millage (tax rate) goes up by enough to cover debt service on the bonds....

Posted by Michael Bates on October 11, 2011 7:00 PM

Oklahoma municipal elections, school runoffs today, April 5, 2011

Oklahoma towns and cities with a statutory charter (which is to say, no charter at all; they are governed by the default provisions of Oklahoma Statutes Title 11) and some charter cities have elections today, Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Some school board seats will have a runoff, if none of...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 5, 2011 12:23 AM