Ballpark Battle Heats Up

A group of downtown property owners is suing the city over the new tax assessment to build the new Drillers Stadium.

Monday, July 14th 2008, 5:31 pm

By: News On 6

The battle over the ballpark is heating up. A group of downtown property owners is suing the city over the new tax assessment to build the new Drillers Stadium.

News On 6's Jeffrey Smith reports some property owners a mile away from the new stadium are going to see the same tax increases as the mom-and-pop sandwich shop across the street.

They say there's no question that's unfair, but now they're suing the city to see if it's legal.

"I'm not against them building a ballpark, but I am wholeheartedly against them building it on the backs of the property owners and the taxpayers," said Marc Price, who is a downtown business owner.

For Marc Price, it's that simple. Under a new tax assessment he'll pay an extra 6-and-a-half cents a square foot to help build the new stadium.

"We used to pay in the old assessment approximately $685. Now, we'll pay $6,794 on the new assessment. The same exact rate that someone across the street from the stadium will pay," said Price.

Price runs a wholesale goods shop out of this warehouse at 12th and Frankfort. That's a mile and a half from the stadium site.

"$6,700 tax on this property down here, a mile point two away from the stadium? And a restaurant or bar that's across the street pays the same 6-and-a-half cents?

And so Price has signed on in a lawsuit against the city. Attorney Kent Morlan says his clients are still paying taxes on a defunct downtown mall. And he says because of that, you can't have additional taxes piled on top.

"They're still sending them assessment bills to maintain a mall that doesn't exist anymore. And now they want to build a baseball stadium and send them bills for the next thirty years," said Attorney Kent Morlan.

"It's clearly appropriate both for the services aspect and also the multi-use stadium aspect," said Tulsa City Attorney, Deirdre Dexter.

The city attorney says the law permits assessments on recreational facilities. She says a ballpark falls under that category. And she says the assessment will pay for services like maintenance work.

"None of the traffic is going to flow over here. If you look at the roads, they haven't been fixed in the 30 years I've been here. They virtually spent next to nothing on it," said Price.

Price doesn't buy it and he wants to stick to an incremental tax. The city council had its say, now the courts will have theirs.

The city has a little more than two weeks to respond to the lawsuit. The city attorney tells The News On 6 she'll give her response to the District Court by the end of the month.