Editor, Daily Press:
After seeing the results of the April 7 election, I have to give credit to the city of Tahlequah and Tahlequah Public Schools. They are absolute masters at the art of getting sales taxes passed in elections.
It all starts with calling a special election at some random date in April during a police chief run-off (do you think it would actually pass in a November election?) and then put the school on the tax. People can’t say no to kids (that makes you look terrible), and if the several hundred teachers in town vote for it, that means automatic passage of the tax.
So now with this same tax, we have paid for the NSU football field’s Astroturf, a $2.25 million soccer field and activity buses for the “team” to ride in style to the “big” games.
As voters we need to wake up and ask the city to put a tax out there that is 100 percent for the city. Can we really afford to spend this kind of tax dollars on sports? The new tax will generate approximately $8 million. The new soccer field will be $2.25 million; the school will get $3.2 million, and the city will receive a paltry $1.6 million for streets and sidewalks. Did the city council think these were the most pressing needs for this sales tax?
Has anyone honestly paid attention in Tahlequah lately? The streets are crumbling, the drainage is horrible and the traffic flow is some of the worst in all of Northeast Oklahoma. With the economy in shambles, this might have been the last chance to use this tax to actually improve the city for all citizens, but once again, a few special interest groups are using everyone’s money for “pet” projects.
I have always voted for bond issues and mileage increase for our schools, but I am now having second thoughts. The tax should be for the city, and bond issues should be for the schools, period! At least I’ll know that years from now, when all of the tax money is spent and the town’s infrastructure is in shambles, we’ll have a good soccer field and those “much-needed” activity busses.
Wayne West
Tahlequah
Editor’s note: The tax passed in April will not be used to pay for school activity buses.
