Host of issues to be decided Tuesday

Monday, September 12th 2005, 12:17 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- While a proposed gas tax hike is the only statewide question on the ballot Tuesday, voters in counties and cities across the state will determine a host of local issues.

In Oklahoma County, Democratic voters in Senate District 48 will cast ballots in a primary election for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Angela Monson. The Democrat was forced to step down in the middle of her term because of term limits.

Oklahoma City councilwoman Willa Johnson, state Rep. Mike Shelton and Senate staff member Connie Johnson are among five Democrats who will appear on the ballot. The winner of the Democratic primary will automatically be the next senator because there are no Republicans in the race and no runoffs in special elections.

Broken Arrow voters will be asked to split up two public-safety projects already approved in a May 2004 bond issue -- a combined Emergency Operations Center and a fire station headquarters next to the police station.

Voters in 13 cities will determine a host of ballot questions, including a 5 percent sales tax on hotels, motels and other lodgings in Hinton. Pryor, Sapulpa, McAlester, Perkins, Warr Acres and Yale are asking to amend their charters dealing with election dates.

Other questions include a 40-year, one-cent sales tax in Adair for the community's wastewater and water treatment plant and a five-year extension of a one-cent sales tax in Oilton for capital improvements.

Countywide elections are planned in Cimarron, Greer, Harmon, Johnston, Kay, Kingfisher, McIntosh, Stephens and Tillman counties.

McIntosh County voters will determine three countywide questions, including the elimination of personal property tax, the creation of a county emergency telephone system and the establishment of a 50-cent-per-month wireless telephone fee to enhance 911 emergency systems.

Similar proposals for a new fee on wireless telephone users are set for Stephens and Tillman counties.

Voters in Greer, Harmon and Johnston counties also will vote to eliminate personal property taxes.

In Kingfisher County, a one-year, half-cent sales tax is being proposed for a Kingfisher County Military Service Memorial, and in Cimarron County, voters will determine the fate of a permanent 5-cent hotel-motel tax to fund operations and improvements at the Cimarron County Courthouse.