The package had 11 parts and funds a wide array of services from public safety to roads to libraries. Each proposition earned support from more than 75% of voters.
“This is an overwhelming mandate from the people of Oklahoma City that they believe in the direction that we are headed, that they support this city government, and that they continue to want to see us invest in ourselves,” said OKC Mayor David Holt, a champion for the bond who peppered billboards and voters text message inboxes in the leadup to the vote. “And so I just thank them.”
Other results around the state include Carnegie residents taking tax revenue from their local hospital and putting it toward roads, the rejection of a new high school in Little Axe and a new city council system in Pawhuska.
Full results are available at the election board’s website. More about notable races below.
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City voters overwhelmingly approved a $2.7 billion municipal bond package — the biggest in the city’s history. Questions about streets, bridges and fire station improvements got a thumbs-up from nearly 85% of voters.
The bond package will not increase property tax rates. Instead, it will use revenue from future property taxes to pay off infrastructure projects. The following allocations will be made to various projects:
- $1.35 billion for streets
- $90.6 million for bridges
- $81.0 million for the traffic system
- $47.1 million for city maintenance, data and municipal support facilities
- $175 million for economic and community development
- $414 million for recreational facilities
- $52.5 million for libraries and learning centers
- $140 million for the drainage control system
- $130 million for the transit and parking system
- $107 million for police, municipal courts and family justice facilities
- $130 million for fire facilities
This is the latest in a string of successes for OKC in passing bonds. Bob Blackburn, the former director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, said the city has been bonding for well over a century. But those efforts were met with limited success until recent years.
Blackburn credits the success of a sales tax vote for Metropolitan Area Projects (known as MAPS) – which first passed in 1993 – as a proof of concept.
“That was the first that really broke the logjam of this community's lack of willingness to support communal projects to go forward,” Blackburn said. “And then MAPS was successful, and the political elite gained the confidence of the people.”
Since then, the city has passed multiple bond packages, including ones in 2007 and 2017. As the city has grown in population and property value, its dollar amount has increased.
At a watch party for the bond hosted by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, Holt applauded the city’s track record on public funding measures.
“We have now done 15 — counting MAPS and counting tonight —15 sales tax, hotel tax or property tax initiatives at the city level that were focused just on infrastructure of some kind, capital projects,” Holt said. “And we are 15 and 0 since 1993.”’
Katrina Avers was sworn in as the councilwoman for Ward 3 earlier this year. Upon taking office, she worked to secure more funding for her area, which is dealing with rapid population growth.
“I am so excited for our Ward 3 residents,” Avers said. “They have really, really been asking for improvements in our infrastructure and this is our biggest infrastructure investment that we've ever made.”
The bonds will begin being issued next year.
Town of Carnegie and Carnegie Public Schools
Voters in Carnegie approved two funding issues.
The first will redirect an existing 1% sales tax from the Carnegie Tri-County Municipal Hospital to streets. The hospital posted a letter on Facebook encouraging residents to vote against the proposal in order to help maintain operations.
Mayor Cody Dupler, however, wrote he believes approving the transfer is the only way to fund street improvements. He added that, according to a survey he conducted, streets are the biggest concern of the town’s residents. Approving the measure would result in a 400% increase in street funding. That same dollar amount is less than 1% of the hospital's annual revenue, he calculated.
Voters within the town’s school district also approved a $4 million bond to fund a new Wildcat Wellness Center. It will not increase property tax rates.
City of Pawhuska
Pawhuska voters approved a new representation system for the city’s five-member city council.
The city will get rid of its ward system for city council members. Instead, all five members can live anywhere in Pawhuska and will be elected at large.
This proposition came forward as a ballot initiative, which means community members submitted the question and collected enough signatures to put it on the ballot.
City of Sulphur
Sulphur residents voted down four proposed changes to their city charter.
The first would have required the city manager to live within the city or its school district. Another would have removed the city’s $1500 purchase limit. The third would have required a reminder to be printed at the top of every page of a recall petition saying people are only allowed to sign their own names. And the final change would have removed the requirement for the mayor to sign all warrants, checks and money orders for the city.
Voters rejected all four. This came after the city council considered scrapping the city charter entirely in August.
Pawnee County
Pawnee County voters approved three sales tax increases to fund their fairgrounds, bridges and jail. Shoppers will pay an additional 4 cents for every $10 they pay in the county starting Jan. 1.
Little Axe Public Schools
Voters in the Little Axe school district did not pass a $57 million bond issue to build a new high school and convert its existing high school to a facility for 4th- and 5th-grade students.
In a letter to community members, District Superintendent Jay Thomas said the new school, which the district had hoped to complete before the start of the 2027 school year, would alleviate crowding in the growing district and provide access to more and better athletic facilities.
Although nearly 51% of voters supported the proposition, it did not receive the 60% majority required to pass.
A separate $1 million 5-year school bond to pay for transportation failed by an even narrower margin.
Cities approve agreements with OG+E
Noble voters overwhelmingly approved a 25-year franchise agreement with OG+E. Nearby, in Norman, voters narrowly rejected a similar agreement in 2023 and again in 2024.
Voters in Luther, Oakland, Carney and Medford also approved franchise agreements with OG+E.
