Blog search

2024 Oklahoma presidential primary

Published February 29, 2024. Postdated to keep it at the top of the page until the polls close. Tuesday, March 5, 2024, is Oklahoma's presidential primary. On election day, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. You'll be able to cast an early ballot at one or...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 5, 2024 7:00 PM

Wagoner County sales tax election, March 5, 2024

In addition to Oklahoma's presidential preference primary on March 5, 2024, a small number of local jurisdictions will have propositions: Haskell, Norman, Oilton (2), Dewey County, Logan County (3), McIntosh County, Major County, and Sharon-Mutual Public Schools (Dewey & Woodward Counties). One school district, Mannsville in Carter & Johnston Counties,...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 27, 2024 3:04 PM

2023 Tulsa sales tax and bond issues: Seven reasons to vote NO

Here are seven reasons to vote no on <a href="https://www.batesline.com/archives/2023/07/2023-tulsa-sales-tax-bond-issue.html">all four City of Tulsa ballot propositions at the special election next Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Posted by Michael Bates on August 8, 2023 6:41 PM

Improve Our Tulsa: Tulsa's Underpants Gnomes promise to fix homelessness

A dialogue pertinent to the August 8, 2023, City of Tulsa special election: "Homeless problem in Tulsa seems worse than ever and all over the city, not just downtown." "Don't worry, GT has a plan." "What's the plan?" "$75 million." "To do what?" "We don't know yet." "How do...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 8, 2023 7:40 AM

2023 Tulsa sales tax & bond issues

City of Tulsa residents will vote on a new sales tax on August 8, 2023. Why are city officials pushing for a new tax more than two years before the current tax expires? Click to read ballot language, ballot resolutions, and lists of "specific" projects.

Posted by Michael Bates on July 23, 2023 3:49 PM

Improve Our Tulsa 2 election today

I'm hearing from many people that they plan to vote against at least one of the three propositions, for a variety of reasons: Because it's daft to invest another $427 million in a financially unsustainable growth paradigm. Because, for the first time in the nearly 40-year-history of Tulsa's "Third Penny" sales tax for capital improvements, none of the money will go toward basic infrastructure.

Posted by Michael Bates on November 12, 2019 7:00 PM

Improve our Tulsa 2: Why You Should Vote Against the Street Package

Brent Isaacs, a native Tulsan and city planner active for many years in advocating for a better Tulsa, has has written a piece below about why you should to vote against the first item on the November 12, 2019, Tulsa ballot. Labeled on the first sheet of the ballot as...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 30, 2019 11:28 PM

Petition for jail tax points to opposition of commission majority

Consider these options for putting a county-wide tax proposition on the ballot this fall: 1. Convince at least two of the three county commissioners to support the idea. 2. Collect 18,000 petition signatures in six weeks, early enough to make the November ballot. If you could do either, which would...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 3, 2013 10:48 PM

Fix Our Streets tax extension public input meeting tonight

Citizens for a Better Vision was the grassroots group that led the successful opposition to Vision2, using a minuscule budget compared to the millions at the "vote yes" side's proposal. Now they're trying to influence the development of proposals to re-up city sales and property taxes for a new funding...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 27, 2013 12:51 AM

City of Tulsa Vision2 forum: Time to ask the Mayor some questions

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett Jr is holding the first in a series of Vision2 public forums tonight (August 27, 2012, Webster High School, 5:30 to 7:30 pm) to ask what projects should be funded with the money the county would &lt;sarcasm&gt;graciously&lt;/sarcasm&gt; allow the city to have. Never mind that no...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 27, 2012 12:52 PM

Vision2: Tulsa better off going it alone

A possible response to my earlier entry, Vision2 share vs. Tulsa County municipality population, is that it doesn't count the money in Proposition 1 to improve city-owned facilities and to provide "equipment and fixtures and other capital improvements" for businesses in the "Airport Industrial Complex" as part of Tulsa's share....

Posted by Michael Bates on August 17, 2012 10:06 PM

Tulsa County Commissioners put Vision2 (ObamaVision) on November ballot

The Tulsa County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday morning, to the disappointment of many and the surprise of none, to put a 13-year sales tax extension on the ballot this coming November, more than four years before the tax is scheduled to expire. The package is being called Vision2...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 14, 2012 12:14 AM

"All That Tax"

From the grooveyard of forgotten favorites, here's a song from the summer of 2003 and the run-up to the Vision 2025 sales tax vote, a parody of "All That Jazz," written and sung by then-KFAQ morning show sidekick Gwen Freeman, with patter from morning show host Michael DelGiorno. I came...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 26, 2012 1:27 AM

Capitol follies: Simonson and sales tax; Wright and Reynolds rap

Peter Rudy of Oklahoma Watchdog has a couple of intriguing items: Whatever happened to former mayoral chief of staff Terry Simonson? House Speaker Kris Steele appointed him to a municipal sales tax collection task force, and an interesting question came up at today's meeting of the task force: The former...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 16, 2012 6:11 PM

Will Craig County mortgage its future for a community center?

My friend Tyson Wynn has an editorial on WelchOK.com about tomorrow's special election in Craig County to extend a sales tax that currently expires in 2023 to 2040 in order to pay for a new community center. You read that right: They intend to borrow against assumed revenues far into...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 10, 2010 11:52 PM

Jenks sales tax fails

One of the many surprising results from Tuesday's election was the defeat of three out of four questions on the City of Jenks ballot. A bond issue for streets was approved, but a bond issue for city hall improvements and a 3/4-cent sales tax for fire trucks and water and...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 10, 2010 11:09 PM

Notebook: Final UTW Column

An edited version of this column was published in the May 28 - June 4, 2009, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. This was my final column for UTW, for reasons I explained in a blog entry at that time. The final paragraph was cut by the editor. The published version...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 27, 2009 7:57 PM

<em>Whirled</em> pumps up BOK Center impact

I happened to get a look at Sunday's Tulsa World, which I don't often do, and noticed the front page headline: "BOK Center pumps up tax revenue". The implication of the headline is that the opening of the BOK Center in September resulted in a dramatic increase in local sales...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 17, 2008 11:19 PM

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) 201: Advanced concepts and case studies

An edited version of this column appeared in the November 7, 2007, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The published version is available online courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Here is my blog entry linking to the original column. Posted online September 9, 2017. TIF 201: Advanced concepts and...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 7, 2007 10:04 PM

Tax Increment Financing (TIF): The Basics

An edited version of this column appeared in the October 31, 2007, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The published version is available online courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Posted online September 9, 2017. Infrequently Asked Questions about Tax Increment Financing: The Basics By Michael D. Bates What's all...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 31, 2007 9:50 PM