Tulsa County Property Taxes Could Rise if Cities Have Their Way

When tax revenues aren’t enough to pay the bills, local governments always look for new ways to raise taxes.  Tulsa County, Oklahoma is no exception.

Oklahoma is different from many states in that cities can’t use property tax revenue to pay for general operating expenses. Tulsa and other cities across the state are almost entirely dependent on sales taxes to pay for operating expenses. Property taxes can only be used by cities to pay for debt service on loans taken out for major capital expenditures.

As a result, if the City of Tulsa decided to pay its officials outrageous salaries such as those paid to top officials in Bell, California, those salaries would have to be paid using sales taxes not property taxes.

In the current economic downturn, slow business sales as well as stagnating property values are putting added pressure on cities in Tulsa County.

As a result, city officials across the county are hoping that some of the recommendations being proposed by the Oklahoma Legislative Task Force on Municipal Finance will be adopted.

This task force has been meeting on a regular basis to take a look at other ways for cities in Oklahoma to pay their bills. 

Some of the recommendations being considered by the task force include eliminating some sales tax exemptions and charging sales and use tax for all catalog and Internet sales. Also being considered is a recommendation to allow cities to collect property taxes for general operating expenses.

Tulsa officials are hopeful that cities will be allowed to expand their property tax assessments to cover general operating expenses.

Like many other cities across the country, finding new ways to raise property taxes allows city officials to put off the hard work of getting their own financial house in order.

If you live in Tulsa County, it may only be a matter of time until the task force decides it is time for you to pay more property taxes to cover the operating expenses of cities in your county. Don’t wait around for that to happen.  Take action now by using ValueAppeal to appeal your Tulsa County property tax assessment.