The City of Muskogee has decided to postpone the Aug. 27, 2024, bond vote so they can "promote voter education and the future support of citizens investing in our community . . ."
The citizens of Muskogee have accomplished something that has probably never been done before — we changed the direction of a city council that was determined to kill business growth, destroy mom-and-pop stores, and devastate the poor and renters.
Here are Mayor Cale's comments in the news release sent to Tulsa news sites by the city.
“Almost everyone I’ve talked to is in favor of investing in Muskogee and like the projects put forward, but I feel like we could use a few more months to consider the issues,” said Mayor Patrick Cale. “I’m excited about the opportunities for Muskogee through this measure, but I want everyone – all the people of Muskogee – to be informed as much as possible when they go vote. I’m grateful for the efforts so far in helping spread the word, but I believe we can do more. That’s why I’ve called the meeting for the council to consider postponing the vote for a few months.”
I've never seen so much backpedaling as I have here. Teresa Ruetlinger (spelling?), at the last city council meeting, basically said that the city council never would have approved a resolution that duplicated what the citizens of Muskogee were circulating without the pressure of the citizens gathering petitions asking for a special audit of the city and its trusts. And she's correct.
My opinion? We should never pass this bond no matter how much they "educate" us. If you want a new $11M police station, then give us the square footage, and detail what will be in the police station i.e. how many offices, will there be a weight room, will there be a locker room, will there be showers, will there be an indoor shooting range? Because right now, the mayor nor the city council can answer those questions. We know that because a city councilor asked the city manager, he couldn't answer the question. They city should take every proposed project and gives us the details behind it. In order to ensure real transparency each project should start with its total cost and when money is spent, then a line item should be entered that states "here is how much was spent and what it was for." It is our money and we have the right to know exactly how our money is being spent.
As someone who spent 30 years in the military and federal government's public affairs/public information field and familiar with crisis communications, this bond rollout has been a disaster. I'm not sure the city can recover from it. There has been such a lack of transparency that their public statement at the news conference that they are all for transparency cries "wolf." At the news conference our city manager, mayor, City Councilor Melody Cranford, all said that they were in favor of transparency. However, it's too little too late.
Why should the city burden property owners with a 25-year tax when there are other options? Tulsa uses five-year bonds and spends a between each bond to inform the public about its purpose. When the state grocery tax (4.25%) drops off in 2025, the citizens of Muskogee could vote a one-cent increase in sales tax and that would bring in $108 to 110M, much more than the city is asking for and would be shared equitably amongst all citizens and visitors to Muskogee. Citizens have suggested this at city council meetings but have been ignored.
Before the bond was made public, there was no coordination/communication with the county assessor, the public, small businesses, or our large manufacturers. Someone calculated how much the 25-year bond would cost one of our largest manufacturers and the figure was staggering — $30M over 25 years. What would happen if the bond passed and a city or another state said, "Hey, I see where you're paying millions in extra property taxes. How about moving to our location and we'll give you your first 10 years with no property taxes?"
The city has spent $10s of thousands of dollars through Main Street Muskogee, etc., to improve the image of downtown in the hope of bringing business there. But their actions don't make sense. They spend all this money to draw businesses to downtown Muskogee and yet they want to raise their property taxes for 25 years? How is that pro-business? It's not. How is raising property taxes going to help a homeowner sell their house much less entice someone to buy it? And that is why the common sense taxpayer is being driven crazy.
Could one problem be that City Manager Mike Miller is not certified as a city manager? Why is the city council hiring someone who is not certified to run a city? Would you allow an unlicensed plumber or unlicensed electrician to perform work on your house? Would you allow someone who is not qualified to be a Certified Public Accountant to prepare your taxes? The obvious answer is "no." Then why is running a city any different? It shouldn't be.
One last thing, and it's not tax-related. Why does the city manager/city council hold town hall meetings when they want something from us but can't hold town hall meetings to hear from us?
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