Tulsa County moves forward on bioterrorism tax proposal

Tuesday, December 11th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The September 11th attacks gave way to a wave of fear about possible biological warfare closer to home. And you may soon be asked to pitch in with your tax money to keep Tulsa County safe.

We've told you about a number of incidents where Hazmat crews were called to look into reports of suspicious powdery substances. All of them turned out to be false alarms. The Tulsa City/County Health Department is requesting a property tax increase to help pay for a surveillance network for early detection. Gary Cox with the Health Department: "We're working on it very hard and we're going to develop a top-notch system here in Tulsa that will be one of the best in the United States. Our citizens will have a good system. But we're just not quite there yet."

Cox says the tax increase would amount to about $7.50 a year for a single family home. The increase would only affect those who own property. It could go before voters as early as February.