Putting Money Where the River Is

What would you think of a merchant who sold you something, then told you you’d have to pay for it again to get what you’ve already paid for? When Tulsa County voters approved Proposition No. 4 of the Vision 2025 sales tax, they approved $9.5 million to pay for the following items, spelled out very specifically in the ballot resolution passed by the Tulsa County Commission: “Construct two low water dams on Arkansas River the locations of which will be determined in the Arkansas River Corridor Plan -- $5.6 million “Zink Lake Shoreline Beautification -- $1.8 million “Design and construct Zink Lake Upstream Catch Basin and silt removal -- $2.1 million” Now Terry Simonson, the chief deputy and mouthpiece for Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller, is trying to convince Tulsans that we need to raise our taxes again to get what we thought we had already paid for. County Commissioners are likely to vote August 2 to put a $282 million sales tax increase on an October special election ballot. Last week in UTW, Simonson tried to persuade readers that the line items you see above (and which you can see for yourself by following the Proposition #4 link at http://www.vision2025.info/newsletters.php) weren’t really there. Simonson wrote, “Though some may believe that Vision 2025 included funding to build a series of low water dams on the Arkansas River, this is not the case.” Simonson went on to claim that the $5.6 million was spent on “the study and environmental analysis by the Corp [sic] of Engineers.” He correctly notes the amounts for the two improvements to Zink Lake, and claims that, “All of these are completed or, substantially engaged.” Simonson repeated these assertions last Wednesday morning, July 18, on 1170 KFAQ. Morning co-host Chris Medlock, who was on the City Council when Vision 2025 was put to a vote, called Simonson on his erroneous information, pointing to the official ballot resolution and promotional articles published in the daily paper at the time. For example, on August 24, 2003, the daily paper published a column by editorial writer Julie DelCour, intended to deflect criticism that Vision 2025 neglected the public’s interest in Arkansas River development. Taking up most of the front page of the Sunday opinion section, DelCour’s piece was accompanied by full color illustrations showing a river full of water and mixed-use development on its banks. The caption on one drawing read, “Passage of Proposition 4 would provide funds to ‘prep’ the river for future, expanded uses.” Official campaign literature and other stories at the time hammered home the idea that a “yes” vote on Vision 2025 would put water in the river and make it suitable for the riverfront development that Tulsans were demanding. Kirby Crowe, the project manager whose job is to track Vision 2025 funds and to make sure they are spent as promised, called KFAQ during Simonson’s interview and told listeners that of the $9.5 million designated for dams and lake improvements, only $275,000 has been spent. That’s a far cry from Simonson’s claim that the projects were “completed or substantially engaged.” According to Crowe, none of the money for shoreline beautification and silt removal has been spent, in part because the master plan came up with a better approach to silt removal involving modifications to the Zink Lake Dam. Crowe said that Phase 1 and 2 of the Arkansas River Corridor Master Plan was funded by municipalities and private contributions, not by the Vision 2025 sales tax. The $275,000 was to fund the Phase 3 work on environmental paperwork for the low-water dams, a necessary prerequisite for construction. The remaining $9,225,000 for those three line items, Crowe said, is “unspent and protected.” Simonson claims that Hurricane Katrina siphoned off the hoped-for federal matching funds that would have paid for the dams. But Katrina didn’t hit until September 2005, almost two full years after the Vision 2025 vote. The real reason we didn’t get the matching funds was reported by KOTV before the Vision 2025 vote even took place. The cleanup of the environmental disaster at Tar Creek, in the Tri-State mining area north of Miami, Okla., was using all Corps of Engineers funds available for Oklahoma. Had our congressmen put river improvements ahead of Tar Creek remediation, it would have been like buying yourself a boob job and a tummy tuck when your kid needs chemotherapy. Matching funds or not, County officials made a commitment to complete the projects that were promised. In a July 23, 2003, story in the daily paper about the potential for revenues to exceed expected project costs, County Commissioner Bob Dick said that the Vision 2025 package was structured to be sure that no project would be left incomplete. Commissioner Dick was quoted as saying, “I think the worst thing you could do is promise you are going to build something and then not have enough money to build it.” So any surplus was intended first to be used to finish the promised projects. Already, the Tulsa County Vision Authority, a seven-member body made up of the three County Commissioners, the Mayor of Tulsa, and three suburban mayors, has authorized $45.5 million in additional funds for the BOk Center and improvements to the Maxwell Convention Center. Vision 2025 revenues are running well ahead of projections. If you were to take the roughly $54 million in actual revenue over the last 12 months, project it out over the remaining nine-and-a-half years, assuming a modest 2.5% annual growth rate, and add it to what has already been collected, the Vision 2025 tax would raise a total of $768 million, a surplus of $233 million. Subtract out the extra money for the arena and convention center, and there is still a surplus of nearly $188 million, far more than we need to fund the two low water dams and the improvements to Zink Lake that were promised to Tulsa County residents if they approved the Vision 2025 tax. While I’d like to see the Vision 2025 tax ended as soon as possible, the Tulsa County Commissioners have a moral obligation to complete promised projects. It would be far preferable to use an existing tax to complete those projects than to force voters to approve a new tax increase – one likely to be renewed ad infinitum – in order to get what they thought they had already paid for. The rest of the projects in the proposed $282 million tax package, such as the downtown-to-river connection and the pedestrian bridges at 41st and 61st, are city-specific. Each city along the river could choose to fund those improvements – or not – based on their priorities. Tulsa’s city leaders might decide that our appalling violent crime rate or the atrocious condition of our streets deserve more direct attention. It’s essential that the land acquisition for riverfront development be left to the cities. There is a real danger that City of Tulsa residents could vote for this package expecting that money to be spent toward riverside commercial development in Tulsa, only to have it designated instead for a suburban project. Between the items already promised in Vision 2025 and the items that are specific to individual cities, there’s nothing left that needs to be funded through the County. The only reason for the County Commissioners to put a tax on the ballot this fall is if they are intent on expanding their burgeoning empire. I shouldn’t be too hard on Terry. He’s just saying what he’s been paid to say. During his appearance on KFAQ he frequently reminded us that he wasn’t around when the decisions regarding Vision 2025 were made, and he urged us to let go of the past and look to the future instead. But Commissioner Randi Miller, whose water he is carrying, was around then, voted to send Vision 2025 to the voters, and campaigned for its passage. She of all people has a personal obligation to ensure that the projects that she and her colleagues promised, the projects that were approved by the voters, are delivered without burdening her constituents with higher taxes. And Miller needs to make sure her spokesman has his facts straight before sending him out to flack for her tax hike.