Shadid wants to eliminate zoo funding?

[ljbab728]

The way I am reading this quote, he isn't advocating redirecting the dedicated tax from the zoo to someplace else, but where to apply the extra funds. That said, what is wrong with having the voters periodically take another look at open-ended dedicated taxes (including public safety)? Priorities, want & needs change over time. Perhaps they should be examined over time. The Zoo tax was passed how many years ago?

Larry, it reads differently to me. It appears that he is basically talking about the potential of eliminating the Zoo tax and then looking at whether the zoo might qualify for any excess funds.

Of course any tax could be changed. But there has been absolutely no public outcry about the zoo tax and I've never heard it mentioned by anyone except him. As has already been mentioned OKC seems to have gotten it's money worth much better there than on most other city projects.

[Doug Loudenback]

During the past few months, I've attempted to begin avoiding local politics unless something really special (to me) presented itself, and the Zoo does not fall into that category for me. Still, this thread calls into question the integrity of Ed Shadid, a council member I admire greatly. So, I decided to view the city council session for myself, copy it, and create a cropped version of his comments.

Unfortunately, the City's website is, for me, producing errors when I attempt to get to particular council meetings and videos, and I am unable to access them. When that changes, I'll do what I just said and have 1st hand information for all to evaluate what he did say, whether the Oklahoman has taken his remarks out of context, or whatever. If any of you have direct links to the council meeting at which he made his zoo comments, I'd appreciate the link.

[Hutch]

It's important to point out that for those trying to determine the nature and intent of Ed Shadid's comments and whether they were taken out of context, you can't just simply consider a few minutes of the June 19th Council meeting where he made the comments. You need to also go back and view all of his and those of other Councilmembers regarding the issue of adding Sunday bus service in Oklahoma City at the June 12th Council meeting.

In addition, you need to read the Oklahoman articles covering those meetings and not just the article concerning Ed Shadid's zoo funding comments on July 2nd.

Here's a link to the Oklahoman articles covering the two Council meetings:

Oklahoman - June 13, 2012 - Sunday Bus Service

Oklahoman - June 20, 2012 - Sunday Bus Service

If you watch both of those Council meetings, it's pretty clear that Ed Shadid's comments and suggestions on June 19th about taking a look at how the City might be able to adjust certain permanent revenue streams, such as the dedicated funding for the Zoo or the Fairgrounds or the Hotel/Motel tax, were a continuation of the bigger discussion that began on June 12th and primarily about trying to find some way to come up with the funding needed to provide Sunday bus service in Oklahoma City.

[Double Edge]

He explains his position...

http://edshadid.org/examining-okc-de...nds-sales-tax/

[rcjunkie]

He explains his position...

http://edshadid.org/examining-okc-de...nds-sales-tax/

Can you say "back track" or "CYA"

[onthestrip]

I think he makes great points in his blog post. The fact of the matter is the zoo is flush with cash and just a portion of their yearly allotment from sales tax could provide bus service on sunday or something else. I like his idea of possibly raising the hotel/motel tax. Give the extra proceeds of that to the zoo or to the city to fund these needed bus and/or public safety upgrades.

And I dont see any back tracking rcjunkie, this is the first time he has made it clear what he meant when the Oklahoman took one statement of his and ran with it.

[Hutch]

Councilmembers, whether in Oklahoma City, Norman, Edmond, or elsewhere, are usually citizens of varying backgrounds who decide for different reasons to get involved in trying to help better the community. They are typically not politicians and are not necessarily skilled in how to carefully maneuver through the public, political and press land mines when expressing opinions, raising questions, making suggestions or challenging the status quo. They certainly don't have press secretaries and professional handlers to keep them from accidentally stepping on mines or to help them clean up the mess when they set one off. Maybe that explains why some on Council tend to just sit there most of the time and offer little in the way of comments, opinions or suggestions.

I'd much rather see Councilmembers who are actively engaged and willing to stick their neck out and try to find ways to help the improve the community, even if they occassionally step in it, than unengaged, old-guard curmudgeons or silent-but-crafty, good ol' boy special interest representatives who perpetuate the status quo and do little to cause real beneficial change for the citizenry and the community, whether I agree with all of their positions or not.

[Doug Loudenback]

Not that I'm ignoring this, but I'm still waiting on the City Council agenda area of the city's website to be running again. As it is, I'm still getting the message shown below when I attempt to access that area which is also the place to view past city council meetings videos ...



I have read what Ed Shadid said at http://edshadid.org/examining-okc-de...nds-sales-tax/ and have compared that with what was said in the Oklahoman article by Michael Kimball and the Oklahoman's editorial and, at first blush, it sounds as though two ships are passing by each other undetected, if not silently, in the night. I'm reserving judgment until I can access the appropriate city council meeting, and then do some thinking about the matter which I'll defer until I have access to the council meeting comments.

[Doug Loudenback]

Can you say "back track" or "CYA"

Can you say, "Here's the proof?" You seem to have a positive grasp of what your evidence is ... and I'd like the opportunity to review it.

[Doug Loudenback]

After contacting Frances Kersey, City Clerk, yesterday, about the on-line City Council agenda/video problem, mentioned above, thanks to her the on-line links to city council agendas and council meeting videos are once again available on-line.

I've downloaded the 6/12 and 6/19 council meeting videos and am in the process extracting relevant portions and saving them to YouTube videos which relate to this discussion.

That process takes a bit of time. Videos will follow.

[Larry OKC]

From Shadid's site:

2. The hotel/motel tax, which is largely paid by visitors from outside the city and state, is currently 5.5% of which 6/11 goes to the fairgrounds for capital improvements. Given that the voters recently passed MAPS3 which allocated $50 million to the fairgrounds for capital improvements, does all of that money (many millions) still need to be dedicated to the fairgrounds or could some of those funds be used for the zoo or other capital projects?

The reason why the Fairgrounds was included is that the Hotel/Motel tax money is already earmarked to pay for the bonds on existing Fairgrounds projects. They didn't want to wait until they had access to those funds again for new projects.
http://newsok.com/smaller-projects-i...#ixzz209CPfKmQ

He also responded to the question of why hotel and motel tax funds paying for horse barn renovations can’t also be used on the fair’s buildings. O’Toole said the bonds which are paying for the horse barn improvements won’t be paid off for another 20 years, meaning it could be decades before the money is available again.

However, the tax should be bringing even more money than before as the number of hotel inventory keeps going up and occupancy remains solid. Even back before MAPS 3 was unveiled....

State Fair considers addition (Oklahoman, 3/31/08)

One thing to consider is that the State Fair Board traditionally has relied on the hotel-motel tax to fund projects, the mayor said. The city's hotel-motel business has experienced double-digit growth in recent years and is up 20 percent this year, he said.

ON EDIT: according to a MAPS 3 Gazette article (http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/ar...cts-dec-8.html), the tax had brought in $23 million to date and $60 million is earmarked thru MAPS 3

[Doug Loudenback]

Shown in this post and the next are excerpts from two city council meetings showing Ed Shadid's remarks about budget matters. The June 19, 2012, session is the one in which he made his comments about the zoo. The setting discussed possible amendments to the budget which had been approved the week before, on June 12.

The June 12 discussion relates to approving the budget which was before the council but which did not include Sunday bus service but did include funding for a new bus route from approximately Memorial Road and MacArthur (near Gailardia) to downtown.



The next message contains a video of his remarks at the June 19 session.

[Doug Loudenback]

Here is the June 19 discussion on the budget amendment ... what to do with the unexpected $1.3 M surplus of sales tax receipts over the budgeted amount.

The context of this discussion is contained in City Manager Couch's accompanying June 19 memorandum, quoted below:

TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: James D. Couch, City Manager

Resolution directing an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Budget be prepared

Background

During the discussion of the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget at the June 12, 2012 City Council meeting, there was considerable discussion about the possibility of making additions to the budget. The budget was adopted at the meeting with the understanding that an item would be added to the June 19, 2012 agenda for further discussion and a chance to act on possible changes to the budget. The attached resolution provides an opportunity for the City Council to give direction on the Fiscal Year 2013 budget that can be used to develop an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2013 budget. Any changes supported by Council will be incorporated into a budget amendment that will be presented at the July 3, 2012 meeting for introduction, followed by a public hearing and adoption on July 17, 2012.

When the Fiscal Year 2013 budget was prepared, the forecast for General Fund sales tax revenue was based on 3% growth over the estimated sales tax for Fiscal Year 2012 and totaled $203.1 million. This projection was developed in concert with Russell Evans, economist at Oklahoma City University, who presented the Economic Outlook at the January 31, 2012 City Council workshop. When the budget was presented, the May and June sales tax checks had not been received. Both May and June sales tax receipts came in higher than expected. The final total for sales tax was not known until June 7, 2012. The total General Fund sales tax for Fiscal Year 2012 was $198.5 million.

Based on the final sales tax for Fiscal Year 2012,the projection of $203.1 million for Fiscal Yar 2013 is now 2.3% above Fiscal Year 2012. If the original 3% growth rate was used, the Fiscal Year 2013 projection would be $204.4 million, an increase of $1.3 million.

The Fiscal Year 2013 budget totals $951,851,447 and includes 4,511 positions. Some of the major additions in the budget include:

• Public Transportation and Parking — four positions, increased frequency on four routes and the addition of a new express route from Northwest Oklahoma City
• Police – 22 positions (12 for patrol, three detectives, seven civilian investigations positions)
• Public Works – 14 positions (five for street maintenance, two for sidewalk repair, six for striping and one survey aide)
• Development Services – eight positions (six in code enforcement and two in the Development Center)
• Information Technology – six positions (three in Public Safety systems, one on the server team, one in security, and one to coordinate closed circuit television systems)
• Airports – seven positions (two in Maintenance functions and five in management and support roles)
• Utilities – 12 positions (four customer service overages converted to permanent positions, two for meter installation, three for line maintenance, two in support roles and one for SCADA system management)

Based on discussion with City Council there are several choices for handling the better than expected sales tax revenue received in the last two months:

1. Add Sunday bus service. Providing the same level of service on Sunday as is provided on Saturday would cost approximately $1.47 million. This is the net cost of the addition taking into account the savings from ending the Sunday Metro-Link service. This proposal costs more than the additional funds available due to the increased Sales Tax. The contingency account used to pay for unexpected costs from storms, special requests, etc., could be used to make up the difference.
2. Add 20 Police Officers in Patrol. At the June 5, 2012 City Council Finance Committee meeting, the Police Chief presented information on staffing levels, response times and number of calls for service by day and hour of the day. The presentation identified times of day when response times suffer, often because of inadequate staffing. The additional 20 officers would be assigned to the various patrol divisions based on demand. This change, combined with the adopted Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget, would result in an increase in an increase in Police Department staffing of 42 positions (35 sworn and seven civilian positions).
3. Additional roadway improvements. The top concern in every citizen survey has been maintenance of city streets. The additional $1.3 million would be transferred to the Street and Alley Fund to be used to provide supplemental funding for street improvements. With revenue higher than expected in the current year, staff anticipates the unbudgeted fund balance will exceed the 8-15% range established in the City's financial policies. It is expected that $8 million will also be available in Fiscal Year 2013, should Council choose to use some of the ending balance in General Fund.
4. Capital Maintenance Funding for MAPS 3. The original MAPS projects have had significant capital repair and maintenance funding available from the MAPS Use Tax. No such funding source has been established for the MAPS 3 projects. The $1.3 million would be reserved for capital repair and maintenance of the MAPS 3 projects. This annual funding allocation could be redirected in future years to help fund the operating costs associated with the MAPS 3 projects, such as the modern streetcar project and the downtown park.
5. No change in the FY 2013 budget. The estimate for Sales Tax growth could remain as originally projected for Fiscal Year 2013. This would provide a measure of safety if the local economy does not grow as fast as predicted. As Councilman Ryan noted at the May 29, 2012 City Council meeting "There are a lot of economists forecasting a return to recession next year…we need to be cautious about the future and keep that possibility in mind." If revenues did come in higher than expected, any overage would remain in the General Fund as fund balance for use in the future.

Shadid's remarks about zoo funding begin at 1:54 but his entire remarks should be listened to get the context of his remarks.



I'll present my opinions about these comments, as well as Oklahoman reports and the editorial, as well as Shadid's website remarks, shortly. Here, you can listen and form your own opinions.

[ljbab728]

Doug, I listened to all of it and he makes some very good points on many issues. As for the zoo, I still think my comments in post number 51 match what he said. He put the dedicated funding for the fairgrounds in the same category as the zoo. I agree that the Oklahoman cherry picked the zoo comments to focus on but I didn't thnk it was inaccurate.

[OkieDave]

Reminder what Shadid really said about the Zoo not the sound bites - much different than what people are reporting. Examining OKC's Dedicated Zoo and Fairgrounds Sales Tax - Ed Shadid