The latest sales tax proposal died for lack of a second, extending a years-long struggle to finance a replacement jail that has included a defeated tax vote, a successful bond issue and repeated efforts to build political support.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma County commissioners on Wednesday declined to advance another proposal to place a sales tax before voters to help finance a new jail, the latest setback in a funding effort that has stretched across multiple administrations and more than 15 years.
Interim District 3 Commissioner Paul Foster proposed a permanent half-cent county sales tax, but the measure died for lack of a second from either District 1 Commissioner Jason Lowe or District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan.
The proposal’s failure leaves county officials without a clear plan to pay for a replacement jail whose estimated cost has grown to more than $800 million, well beyond the $260 million bond issue approved by voters in 2022.
The latest setback continues a pattern that dates to former Sheriff John Whetsel’s administration.
In 2010, Oklahoma County voters rejected a temporary countywide sales tax intended to finance construction of a new jail, forcing county leaders to abandon that approach. More than a decade later, voters approved the 2022 bond issue, but inflation, escalating construction costs and increased competition for labor and materials have left the project hundreds of millions of dollars short of full funding.
That funding gap has renewed calls for a county sales tax.
Yet for the second time this year, commissioners declined to send such a proposal to voters.
Earlier this year, Lowe proposed a five-eighths-cent sales tax that also failed to receive a second from fellow commissioners. Foster’s proposal met the same fate Wednesday.
Foster’s plan would have dedicated 45% of sales tax revenue to debt service for construction of the new jail, 33% to jail operations and maintenance, 14% to road and bridge projects, 3% to the sheriff’s office, 2.5% to diversion programs, 1% to fire and EMS services, and 0.5% to emergency operations.
Wednesday’s discussion also highlighted the political challenge that continues to confront county leaders. Maughan has said in recent months that any successful sales tax proposal will require broad community support before commissioners ask voters to approve it.
Commissioners also raised concerns about the proposal’s legal readiness. Assistant District Attorney Lisa Enders told the board her office had not completed its review of the measure and that the proposed ballot language had not yet been approved as to legality and form. Commissioners also disagreed over whether there was sufficient time to place the measure on the Aug. 25 runoff ballot.
Foster said he hopes a revised proposal could still be considered later this year. For now, however, the motion’s failure leaves Oklahoma County continuing a familiar pattern: broad agreement that a new jail is needed, but no consensus on how to pay for it.
