Bryan County Commissioners have decided to have two sales tax propositions on the November 5 election to benefit the county districts and the sheriff’s office.
Commissioners Scott Goad, Tony Simmons and Brandon Carr agreed to set the total amount of the tax propositions at one cent.
During a meeting the prior week, commissioners voted to hire Floyd & Driver law firm of Norman for legal services to put the proposition on the ballot, but did not decide on the amount of the tax.
The county currently has a half-cent sales tax that is divided among county general funds, T-Highway and the sheriff’s office.
Goad said during Monday’s meeting that they needed to decide how much to ask citizens of the county to approve. A half-cent was discussed during a prior meeting.
“I did speak with the sheriff last week and he wanted to make sure that we understood the needs of the sheriff’s office because he felt like the proposed tax that was split three ways with another split between county and sheriff’s office wasn’t a fair shake,” Goad said.
Under that proposal, the sheriff’s office would have only received one-eighth of a cent and now, the sheriff’s office would receive onequarter cent if the tax proposition is approved by voters.
There will be two tax propositions on the November ballot, one for the sheriff’s office and another for the county because state law requires these to be separated.
Under the proposition approved by commissioners, Districts 1, 2 and 3 would each receive one-quarter cent to go toward roads and bridges and maintenance and operations if approved by voters.
Stuart England, an attorney with Floyd & Driver, previously told Goad that he estimated that one-quarter cent would generate approximately $1.5 million per year.
Commissioners noted counties in Oklahoma do not receive revenue from property taxes.
Carr said Bryan County is the only county in southeastern Oklahoma that only has a half-percent tax and every other county has a two percent tax.
“In 2019, Marshall County brought in $1.9 million more in tax revenue than Bryan County and they’re a third the size,” Carr said.
Commissioners said they plan to approve the formal language for the ballot in a meeting Aug. 5, and they are also planning to educate the public on how the tax would be used.
“I think the biggest thing is educate, explain and be transparent,” Goad said.