Tulsa officials seeking an extension of the 3rd penny sales tax

The future of Tulsa's third penny sales tax is taking center stage these days. It's about to run out, and it goes before voters for another extension next year. <br/><br/>Mayor Bill LaFortune

Tuesday, September 20th 2005, 6:24 am

By: News On 6

The future of Tulsa's third penny sales tax is taking center stage these days. It's about to run out, and it goes before voters for another extension next year.

Mayor Bill LaFortune has held a series of meetings asking the public what projects they want. There's also the issue of how long the extension should last. Past extensions have been five years. But because of the economy since 2001, sales tax revenues came up short, and some projects were not completed.

The mayor favors a six year extension. "I believe we can do it by bringing forth at one time a 3rd penny package like you've always seen, but we'll make it 6 years instead of 5 years and in that first year, we'll do nothing but the deferred projects, in other words, the projects you've already voted for will be the first ones done in the first year."

Voters could decide on the sales tax extension in May.