Broken Arrow looking at regaining sales tax revenues

The competition over your tax dollars is growing; it has some communities looking for ways to reel in revenue. <br><br>Broken Arrow officials are looking forward to the opening of a Lowe's Home Improvement

Tuesday, May 21st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The competition over your tax dollars is growing; it has some communities looking for ways to reel in revenue.

Broken Arrow officials are looking forward to the opening of a Lowe's Home Improvement store. The community loses a large share of sales tax revenue to the mammoth shopping area at nearby 71st and Mingo in Tulsa. So communities like Broken Arrow find themselves caught in a balancing act.

Ted Allison with the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce: "We have a high growth residential sector and so there's a demand for services there, but how do you pay for it."

Studies show Tulsa gets twice as much sales tax per person as Broken Arrow, even though the per capita "income" for both cities is about the same. That means Broken Arrow residents are shopping somewhere besides Broken Arrow.

Lowe's is part of a major retail project at Kenosha and the BA expressway city officials hope will change the trend.