A meeting was held last week at the Bryan County Community Building at the fairgrounds to educate the public about two sales tax propositions that will be on the November ballot.
Proposition one is a threequarters cent tax to be divided among the three county districts to fund road and bridge construction, repair and maintenance and the purchase of materials/equipment, plus payroll support for road maintenance personnel.
Proposition 2 is a quartercent for the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office with the funds to used for but not limited to payroll support, training, equipment, vehicles, facilities, plus construction, repair, renovation and maintenance/ operation of facilities operated by the sheriff’s office.
By state law, the propositions must be separate and the taxes will be permanent if approved by voters.
Sheriff Johnny Christian spoke at the meeting and he outlined why the tax is needed for his department.
“You trusted me eight years ago to create a sheriff’s office and I have brought you one second to none,” Christian said. “One of the best in the state.”
The sheriff said he has had an amazing team of county commissioners since he took office.
First, the sheriff’s office was able to obtain a fleet of new patrol cars.
“So, I got the cars, got the fleet,” Christian said. “Then it comes time, all of this other added equipment that it takes to be a lawman, there are some folks that don’t
the county.
understand. Today’s times, it takes so much money to battle the system when it comes to the federal courts because everything inside my job, for the deputies and my jail, deals with people’s civil rights. What the courts can grant if I don’t do my job or my employees don’t do their job is granting multi-million dollar lawsuits against our county to raise all of our taxes.”
According to Christian, because of strict policies and procedures he has implemented, the sheriff’s office has only been sued a couple of times that included a very small settlement.
”With that being said, when it comes to cameras, body cameras, those are not cheap,” Christian said. “We’re talking half a million dollars here for my jail cameras that I’ve had installed. We’re talking a couple hundred thousand just for my deputies. Why? Because people want to see videos. So, that’s in that car. We’ve got videos. We have the laptops to keep the deputies out on the streets to generate the reports. So, with that being said, we have growth come in. With growth, we get good and we get bad. So, you take the growth and we’re needing deputies.”
Christian said he has school resources officers at Durant and Silo schools, plus a supervisor who is over them.
“They’re wanting more,” Christian said. “Every county school wants more, but it takes money and I’m not able to fund it. They can’t help me because it’s not there. So, we’re there now. We can’t get the bodies that I need.
“We’re over eleven-hundred in calls now coming in. We’re making it but it’s the people that’s having to suffer when it takes forever for a deputy to get there. We are here to protect and serve but I’ve got to be able to do my job and it’s going to take money that they don’t have.”
Christian said he is looking toward the future.
“We’ve been blessed that I’ve got an amazing set-up with what have right now but we’re stonewalled and it’s going to take your help and it’s going to take the taxpayers’ help, and I hope and prayed that in the passing years that I’ve built the confidence levels that you see,” he said.
According to Christian, Bryan County went from having the worst jail in Oklahoma to having the best.
“But it costs money, it costs research, it costs knowledge that I’ve been able to bring forth to help us,” Christian said.
Christian said he has been able to house federal inmates, something that could not have been done in the past, and security fences have been installed.
“We’re not going to have an escape,” Christian said.
The sheriff said he has the best staff ever and he could not do it without the amazing staff that he has been able to create over time.
“But that’s where I hope I have the public’s trust in this that we’ve got to move forward,” Christian said.
According to Christian, the sheriff’s office facility needs to be renovated.
“My old carpet has been in there forever and all this is because we spent our money wisely,” Christian said. “Right now, I mean our folks that protect and serve, making sure that the people are taken care of first, and that’s the way we budget our money to make sure the people are taken care of.
“This would assist with the office. Make it look presentable. This would help with our units because in time, those units are going to fall apart. Those computers going to fall apart, these cameras are going to fall apart.
“In five years, when everything falls apart, what have we got? So, we got to come up with something that’s going to be long term that’s going to help us. Grow a little bit on the streets. Grow a little bit with our equipment. Grow a little bit with our place. You won’t be disappointed. I can assure you of that. But, I can’t do it without your help.”
District 1 Commissioner Scott Goad spoke about the road mileage in his district and the money he receives.
“Say we’re going to pave every mile of road in District 1,” Goad said. “The amount of money that we get is roughly $100,000 a month, that’s to make payroll, to pay benefits, to buy fuel, to buy equipment … You take that, it’s $1.2 million a year. If you take the mileage, the 300-plus miles that you have and divide that out, it will take roughly 68 years. That’s not patching one pothole. That’s not fixing one road. That’s not putting new tin horns in for drainage.
“The best thing that we can do is spend our money wisely … if we were able to raise a sales tax for the commissioners’ district and the sheriff’s office, these are being proposed separately but we’re in lock step. We would like to see both of these things happen. We’re able to actually bring in revenue that we would just never ever expect to see that can do things like, actually do some planning and start doing some road improvements.
“What we have today is not sustainable. What you see today is the best we’re ever going to be if we’re not able to pass this sales tax to bring relief to the county. These are the good days. It will only go downhill from here.”
District 2 Commissioner Tony Simmons talked about the truck traffic in the county.
“We’ve got more truck traffic on our county roads right now,” Simmons said. “Every road we have, there are cattle trucks. Cattle is a big part of industry for this county but our roads weren’t built to handle that kind of traffic and they’re on them every day now. We can keep Band-Aiding the problem with patches, but without this sales tax money, we will keep Band-Aiding and like the sheriff said, we’ll keep getting by and we’ll keep doing everything we can with what we’ve got but to keep up with the growing of the county and the progress, this sales tax is essential.”
District 3 Commissioner Brandon Carr has been researching surrounding counties and the amount of funding they receive.
“We are actually the only current county in southeastern Oklahoma that doesn’t have two percent,” Carr said. “I did some research on Marshall County and last year alone, they brought in $1.9 million more tax revenue than Bryan County and they’re half the size. I think we’re a sinking ship if we don’t get a sales tax passed. I really do.”
