Bond Election Makes Improvements To City of Bartlesville Without Raising Property Taxes

In October, Bartlesville locals will have the chance to vote on some improvements for their city.

The city manager said the bond covers a lot.

"There's streets, there's parks and recreation, there's public safety, and then the last one is really, it's the smallest, and it's essentially IT projects that help us to do our jobs," Mike Bailey said. 

The total cost of the bond is set at 17.6 million dollars to be issued over four years, with the bulk of it going into the city's streets.

"None of these are new street projects. They are all existing streets that are just in some form of disrepair. Streets degrade over time, and so we're just trying to address that," said Bartlesville Director of Engineering Micah Siemers. 

The rest of the funds will be go into the other three projects: replacing an old fire station, updating IT software in city facilities, and upgrading parks. That will include more lighting, trails, shade structures, and restrooms.

Siemers said these elections are a major source of funding for city improvements.

"All the new projects that you see around town, any rehabilitations, anything like that, it depends on these funds."

One thing stands out about this bond proposal. It doesn't cause people's property taxes to go up.

"We set this up in such a way that it will not increase. So, this is not a tax increase. This is just an extension of existing tax," Siemers said. 

City officials said it's important for everyone to vote because these changes could directly impact people's lives.

"I'd say everyone's vote matters every time," said Mike Bailey. 

Early voting happens on October 5th and 6th from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Washington County election board. Regular voting is set for October 10th, all day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at your local polling place.