Touted by city leaders as a critical vote to maintain funding streams amid overall revenue dips, Edmond residents are set to vote Nov. 18 on whether to renew the city’s current one-cent General Fund sales tax and its half-cent 2017 capital improvement sales tax agreement. Both taxes would sunset in 2027 if not approved by a majority of voters.
If renewed, both sales taxes would be extended for another 10 years. Residents have voted to maintain the General Fund tax every 10 years since 1977. As it stands, Edmond sports the lowest sales tax rate in the Oklahoma City metro area at 8.25 percent, though a recent decline in sales tax revenue against expectations has left the city budgeting leanly.
Randy Entz, former interim city manager prior to the arrival of new City Manager A.J. Krieger, emphasized that the Nov. 18 votes are not to increase taxes, but to continue existing rates.
“To give you a sense of how important that is, the General Fund sales tax generates approximately $24 million a year,” Entz said at an Edmond Economic Development Authority meeting Sept. 16. That $24 million represents nearly 6 percent of the city’s $413 million budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26.
Entz said the money goes to city operations, including police and fire, which receive two-thirds of the General Fund tax owing to a 2000 ballot question that some previous city leaders believed was unclear. Should the General Fund sales tax not be renewed, those services would be impacted.
“(Councilman) Phil (Fraim) and I did the back-of-the-envelope math,” Entz said. “I think [the city would have] around 50 police officers and 30 firefighters (if the tax is not renewed).”
Entz said the capital improvement tax, which was narrowed by the Edmond City Council on Sept. 8 to specify its funding only for road improvements, generates approximately $12 million a year. The funding stream has previously been used to pay for projects like construction of the Pelican Bay Aquatic Center, trail development throughout the city and a firearms training facility for the Edmond Police Department.
“Over 10 years, it’s $120 million we would have,” Entz said. “We have about $240 million of needs we’ve identified. And that’s probably the just the most imperative needs. There’s probably more than that out there in roads alone.”
Edmond voters will be able to visit the polls between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Early voting runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Oklahoma County Election Board. Voters can locate their Election Day polling place on the Oklahoma State Election Board website.
Edmond eyes new revenue in near future
Amid a decline in sales tax revenue and increasing inflation rates, debate ensued among Edmond City Council members Aug. 25 when deciding whether to propose renewing the General Fund sales tax at its current rate or by raising it an additional quarter of a cent.
Mayor Mark Nash, harkening back to his campaign promise of fiscal transparency, said he was against altering the sales tax rate with the November vote.
“I do not want to increase either one of these taxes until we can show our citizens exactly how we’re spending their money in detail,” Nash said. “That’s a fair statement. If we need to come back in two or three years and address the General Fund piece, that’s great.”
Fraim, the Ward 4 councilman, argued that raising the tax rate now would be more transparent.
“I feel weird sitting here talking about transparency and saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to renew them,’ but then I’m going to come back and tell you, ‘I need more, OK?'” Fraim said. “I think we’re playing games with it to say, ‘Well, we’re going to renew it like it is right now, but then maybe we’re going to come back and ask you for some more.’ I’m asking for a quarter of a cent. That’s not anything that’s going to make you choke when you buy dinner tomorrow.”
If Edmond stays in “last place” with the lowest sales tax ranking, Fraim argued, it will be last place in other areas as well. However, the proposition to maintain current rates was passed 5-0 during the Aug. 25 meeting to set up the Nov. 18 election.
If voters approve the 10-year renewals, the council could also propose alternative revenue-raising methods in the future. In November 2024, the city sought to open a new funding stream — property tax, which the City of Edmond does not currently collect — via a 22-project, $231 million general obligation bond proposal. However, the tax hike failed to gain much traction with voters, even those who agreed the included projects needed to be done, and all three propositions were soundly defeated at the ballot box.
Nash was one of the most outspoken opponents of that proposal, which he said partially motivated him to run for mayor, though he noted during NonDoc’s January Edmond mayoral debate that he may have supported a GO bond project “if it were smaller,” leaving the door open for a future bond proposal.
