Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wagner boards approve applying for Oklahoma P3 incentive to supplement Junction project funding
Summary
WEDA and city staff authorized the city to apply for an Oklahoma public-private partnership incentive that redirects private withholding tax to local infrastructure, aiming to supplement funding for the downtown ‘Junction’ project; the board approved the application with one vote against.
Darla Heller, Wagner County economic development director, told the Wagner Economic Development Authority on May 4 that staff wants the city to apply to Oklahoma’s public-private partnership (P3) incentive program to help fund the Junction downtown development project. The authority voted to move forward with an application at the meeting.
Heller said the program, administered through the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and the Oklahoma Finance Authority, allows a private partner to redirect state withholding tax back to the community to finance public infrastructure. “A business has to say, ‘Okay, we will partner with you. We will allow our state of Oklahoma withholding tax to come back to the community and be used for public infrastructure,’” Heller said, citing a prior local example.
She pointed to a 2024 hospital project that used the same mechanism: Elastomer Specialties participated alongside Wagner Hospital and about $375,000 in redirected withholding tax supported hospital upgrades. Heller said the Junction application would not replace existing county funding already committed to the project; rather, she described the P3 as a potential supplement to cover remaining unfunded pieces. She added the city would be the applicant and that staff are still identifying, and working to secure, a private partner who has not yet signed an agreement.
On the motion to authorize staff to submit the application, the authority approved the request by roll call; one member voted no. The motion did not include a recorded mover or seconder in the public record.
If the application proceeds, city staff said it will return to council with any partnership agreements or implementation details for final approval and to confirm how redirected withholding tax would be applied to specific Junction project elements.
