Oklahoma County wants to buy GM plant for Tinker
A proposed taxpayer-funded purchase of the General Motors plant has sweeping implications on and off Tinker Air Force Base, which could help breathe life back into the abandoned car factory and take a bold step of its own if voters approve the plan.
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DESIGN BY CHRIS SCHOELEN/PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMANBY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE
Other propositions
The ballot will include four other propositions totaling more than $30 million. They are:
•Courthouse renovations, $10.5 million. Commissioner Ray Vaughn said the courthouse is falling into disrepair and needs more energy-efficient utility equipment.
•County records retention, $5.75 million. Many of the county's records are kept in unsafe areas and the money would allow the county to buy new space to keep records and create a new records management program, Vaughn said.
•Natural disaster mitigation and flood relief: $6 million.
Oklahoma County was declared a federal disaster area seven times last year. County officials want to participate in a federal program that gives the county three dollars for every dollar it spends on natural disaster mitigation projects such as flood control improvements.
•New Oklahoma County Extension building: $7.25 million. The county has a agreement with Oklahoma State University to offer community services at the county extension building on the campus of OSU-Oklahoma City. Vaughn said that building, built in 1965, has become inadequate and needs to be replaced.
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State money also likely
The $84.5 million bond package also includes propositions for county courthouse renovations, county records storage improvements, disaster preparedness and a new county extension building, but area leaders acknowledged Tuesday that the election is driven by the need to support Tinker.
That's why state, county and GM officials have spent the past year negotiating the purchase of the 3.8 million-square-foot factory and the 430 acres it sits on. State Treasurer Scott Meacham helped lead negotiations with GM.
He and Vaughn confirmed Tuesday that state money could possibly become part of the GM plant offer by the end of the current legislative session in late May.
If state money enters the picture, it's possible that the county wouldn't need to sell all the proposed bonds. That's what happened in 2002, when county voters approved a $50 million Tinker bond issue that paid for security improvements around the base and allowed the county to buy property near base runways that needed to be demolished for safety reasons.
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