Annexing Tulsa County Fairgrounds

Thursday, April 5th 2007, 11:05 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa's City Council has voted to annex the Tulsa County Fairgrounds. The vote came after several passionate arguments against the measure. The News On 6's Emory Bryan reports bringing the fairgrounds into the city would allow it to collect a 3% sales tax, which could add up to $340,000.

The Tulsa city council held a public hearing on annexing the fairgrounds Thursday night. 21 people spoke, most all of them were against it, and they argued the city shouldn't risk changing such a powerful economic force for Tulsa. But in the end the council decided to go ahead with it, they voted 5-4 to annex the fairgrounds. The city council doesnâ€™t think annexation will make as big a difference to the county as everyone thought.

"People don't really worry about three cents on a dollar when they go to the fairgrounds, and spend money," said Tulsa City Councilman Jack Henderson. "I've been out there for shows and different events and I've never considered the taxes I was gonna spend while I was spending my money. I went there because it was a beautiful place to go, it's an attractive area to be in, and that's why I went and I was willing to pay to get it."

Tulsa County was against annexation, and the Tulsa City Council ended up being divided on the matter, but the city council says their next step will be to meet with the county and try to settle any animosity and work together to implement the sales tax and the annexation.

Related stories:

11/28/2006 - Annexing The Tulsa County Fairgrounds?

2/9/2007 - Future Of Tulsa's Expo Square Discussed

3/27/2007 - Tulsa Residents Petitioning Against Fairground Annexation

3/29/2007 - Tulsa County Fairgrounds' Future Plans