Julie Yates
Pryor’s $12 million bond issue will be on the ballot
Sept. 8, but only after council re-voted Tuesday night.
Pryor City Council voted to pass the ordinance to set the election, but failed to pass the emergency clause needed to validify passing the ordinance.
By city statute, an ordinance must have two readings before it can come to council vote. City Attorney Randy Elliott performed the first reading of the ordinance for the bond election in the Tuesday council meeting.
In order for the city’s
proposed bond issue to be on the ballot by Sept. 8, the ordinance had to be approved Tuesday.
Elliott explained that city ordinances cannot be passed when they are first presented unless council passes an
emergency clause with the
ordinance.
The ordinance for the election passed on a vote of five to three, with Councilmen Drew Stott, Roy Ray and Leonard Barnes voting against the ordinance.
Council then voted five to three on the emergency clause. Stott, Ray and Councilwoman Carolyn Wise voted against the emergency clause.
An emergency clause requires a three-fourths
majority to pass.
“The emergency clause has failed,” said Elliott. “Therefore we cannot have the bond issue Sept. 8.”
A council member asked if council could revote. Elliott said the only way council could revote was if a member who voted against the measure asked to reconsider it.
Councilman Garry Harris said “it’s really disappointing to me that we’re not giving citizens an opportunity” to vote on the proposed bond package.
Barnes said he has had many, many calls from people who are against the bond issue.
“I don’t have the right to sit up here and tell the people they can and cannot vote,” he said.
Elliott requested a recess to confer with bond counsel Tom Hilbourne. After the council session resumed, Stott spoke up, saying the emergency clause was provided for the preservation of public health and safety.
Because the city’s proposed capital improvements address public safety issues, Stott said, “I would rescind my motion against the emergency clause.”
With Stott’s motion, council voted to reconsider voting on the emergency clause.
On the second vote, the clause passed, with Wise and Ray voting against it.
“You have an ordinance that passed with an emergency clause,” said Elliott.
Mayor Jimmy Tramel said the bond projects will not exceed $12 million, and that amount could be scaled back to $11 million. Based on the current sales tax figures, Tramel said a $13 million bond would “strap the city.”
Two million dollars of the bond would help pay off the bond for Pryor Creek Recreation Center. The bond projects would be funded by a one-half cent sales tax, which has been called an extension of the rec center tax.
Elliott explained the half-cent tax is technically a new tax.
The half-cent tax which is paying off Pryor Creek Recreation Center will expire when the bond is paid.
“You can’t breathe life into that tax that’s going to end,” Elliott said.
If the bond passes, Elliott said the new tax will be begin January 2010. The new tax will not expire and can only be removed by vote.
“This is a permanent half-cent sales tax,” said Elliott. “It is dedicated for capital improvements.”
The bond projects, if passed by the people, will be built on revenue bonds. Revenue bonds are backed by the borrower’s source of revenue, which would be the city’s sales tax. The stream of revenue is pledged to pay the interest and pay off the debt.
Elliott said a general obligation bond would require a more complex ballot. General obligation bonds would fall back on property taxes if revenue was not sufficient to pay for the bond.
The listed bond projects include doubling the size of the library,
building a new city hall, adding tennis courts to the rec center, renovating the police station and the PYO building and building a softball complex.
Prior to council passing the ordinance for the election, Stott expressed concern about the city making best use of money spent. He feels rebuilding a new city hall will be much more expensive than renovating the existing building. Stott said if the city kept the existing community center, the plans for the PYO building would not have to be so extensive.
Stott said he doesn’t understand why the library should be doubled in size. He suggested making the building 15,000 square feet instead of 20,000.
Wise said she has spoken with a lot of people who are against doubling the library’s size. She said citizens have told her they will vote against the bond because there are too many projects.
Wise said she sees the need for a city hall and the renovation of the police station.
Library Director Kim Risner said four years ago, the city could have possibly closed the doors of the library.
Now, the library has 10,886 active cardholders who checked out a total of 62,331 materials last year.
“We are double the national average per capita in business,” Risner told the council.
Risner said the library is constantly bustling. She said her staff has to change the meeting room around daily to accommodate citizens who use it.
She said the library gives away books to sister libraries because of a lack of space.
“We are Mayes County’s library, not just Pryor’s,” Risner said. “We are limited by size. We are not limited by our desire to serve.”
Fire Chief Tim Thompson asked if the expansion of the fire department had been pulled from the bond.
Tramel confirmed, “At this point, the fire department is not included in the bond issue.”
Council voted to authorize Thompson to apply for a stimulus grant for a new fire bay. The city will provide $200,000 in matching funds if
Pryor Fire Department is
awarded the grant.
The fire chief said $210 million is available in federal stimulus funding for fire stations planning to expand. Thompson is requesting a grant of $1.4 million.
“Why are we even considering a new fire station when we have no fire protection on the west side of the track?” said Ray.
The fire department has a fire truck stationed on the west side of the train tracks. Thompson told Ray he has no problem with a fire station on the west side if the city had people to man it.
The new fire bay would be built on the old funeral home property at the corner of Northeast First and North Rowe.
