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Claremore advances plan for 1-point sales tax; council approves emergency clause and resolution calling election
Summary
Council voted to advance Ordinance 2024-8 to place an additional 1 percentage-point sales tax before voters, approved an emergency clause to meet election-board deadlines, and adopted Resolution 2024-11 formally calling the election. Staff emphasized the revenue would provide an unrestricted general-fund penny for city priorities.
The Claremore City Council voted to advance a sales-tax measure that would add an additional 1 percentage point to local sales tax and approved procedural steps to put the question before voters in the April election.
Mister Furey told the council the city has not reinvested in general fund priorities in decades and that an additional unrestricted 'penny' would give the council flexibility to fund items not covered by currently restricted sales-tax pennies. "The city portion...the city gets 3%," Furey said, contrasting municipal revenue with county and state shares. He described the proposal as a way to spread costs across shoppers rather than raising utility rates.
Council discussed outreach plans, including town-hall meetings in February and March to educate voters. Furey said staff and consultants will prepare materials and strategy for public engagement.
Because of a tight calendar with the county election board, the council also approved an emergency clause allowing the ordinance to take full effect immediately upon adoption if required to meet deadlines; staff said the clause would permit limited post-submission changes should the election board request them. The council then approved Resolution 2024-11 to formally call the sales-tax measure for the ballot.
All steps were adopted by motion and roll call during the meeting. The record does not specify ballot language beyond authorizing the sales-tax measure; councilors said further outreach and legal review would follow and staff will present final language and public-education materials to the council as they are developed.
Next steps: staff will coordinate with the county election board on deadlines and finalize ordinance/resolution language and a voter-education plan ahead of filing and the April election.
