Cathy Spaulding
Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
(TNS)
Jan. 14—Muskogee County voters showed heavy support for a countywide sales tax to fund public safety buildings, equipment and services.
According to unofficial results from the Oklahoma Election board, the proposal carried with 3,171 votes (58.95%) in favor and 2,208 votes (41.05%) opposed.
“I’m excited, I can’t even put it into words,” Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee said Tuesday. “The potential this has for putting us into the future is absolutely amazing. I don’t think people realize how big this really is. I said early on this is the biggest vote of my 37 years because of the potential. It’s a win not just for Muskogee, but for Muskogee County.”
The proposition calls for a temporary sales tax of 0.849% of one cent to fund an array of public safety facilities, projects and services. Services would include emergency ambulance runs at no cost to Muskogee County residents.
The sales tax is to fund:
— A joint facility, likely on Columbus Avenue, to house Muskogee County EMS, Muskogee Police Department, Muskogee County Emergency Management, Muskogee County Call Center and part of Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office and Muskogee Fire Department.
— New Muskogee fire station on York Street, renovations to Muskogee fire stations on Peak and on 40th Street, plus five new fire trucks for Muskogee.
— New vehicles, radios and equipment for Muskogee Police, Muskogee Fire, Muskogee County Sheriff.
— New joint public safety facilities, new police and fire vehicles and equipment for Haskell, Fort Gibson and Warner, at a cost of $4 million for each community.
— Emergency ambulance service at no cost to patients living within Muskogee County.
— New radios for volunteer fire departments within the county.
After initial projects are funded, within seven to 10 years, the sales tax would drop to a half-cent to keep funding the no-cost ambulance service, building maintenance and ongoing departmental vehicle and equipment needs.
Laurel Havens, executive director for Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service, attributed the proposal’s passage to transparency, honesty and community involvement.
“Every public safety agency in the county will be impacted by this,” Havens said “Our responders will benefit from this.”
He said the first project to be handled is to get new professional radios to first responders, including to rural fire departments.
The tax and the no-cost ambulance service will take effect April 1, Havens said.
He said a committee will start designing the main public safety building.
“It will take about a year of design work, then we’ll start building,” he said, adding that negotiating a location would be “priority one.”
Fort Gibson Police Chief Rob Frazier said he’s excited and thankful about the proposal’s passage. He said the tax will help fund a new joint public safety facility on Willey Street between Poplar and U.S. 62.
“It will actually back up to the school, probably,” he said.
Frazier said the department is to get about 20 radios to cover reserves, as well as full-time officers.
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