Faith in city leaders evident in elections

OKLAHOMA City voters who went to the polls Tuesday showed their faith in city leaders and their support for local law enforcement. Passage of the long list of items on the ballot is good news for the city.

Approval of a 27-month extension of the MAPS sales tax will translate into better streets, something residents always place at the top of their wish lists. The extension, which will begin Jan. 1 and run through March 2020, is expected to generate $240 million.

That money will complement roughly $550 million for street and bridge repair that was included in a package of 13 bond proposals totaling $967.4 million. Voters approved all 13, most of them by wide margins.

In all, roughly $785 million will be spent on streets, bridges and related improvements during the next decade, a sum that will transform the condition of our roadways and make them something the city can boast about.

Other bond measures addressed needs that included libraries, city parks, traffic-control equipment, economic development incentives, the city’s transit system and public safety. The closest call involved a request to use $8.865 million for repairs and renovations of Chesapeake Energy Arena — it squeaked by with 50.7 percent of the vote.

Police and firefighters may have been nervous for a time Tuesday night about the prospects of voters approving a permanent, quarter-cent increase in the city’s sales tax to benefit public safety. Ultimately the proposal, which will raise $26 million per year and go primarily for police and fire services, received 52.3 percent of the vote.

“This is vital for public safety,” said John George, head of the police union. “We want to thank the citizens for this support.”

Approval means the city will be able to hire 129 new police officers and 42 firefighters. Officials with both departments noted in the run-up to the election that their ranks hadn’t come close to keeping up with the city’s population growth during the past 20-30 years. Voters showed that they’re willing to pay a bit more to help address that problem.

While happy with the results, we also wish more voters had taken the time to make their feelings known by casting a ballot. Only 14.3 percent of registered voters turned out, on a perfect weather day, to decide these important matters.

Turnout was comparable for an Oklahoma County election that saw P.D. Taylor easily win his race to become sheriff. Taylor has been acting sheriff since March when John Whetsel retired, and now will serve through 2020.

Taylor, 71, won with 49.9 percent of the vote in a three-man race. The chief concern about the office has been the operation of the overcrowded county jail, which has been plagued by problems including about two dozen inmate deaths in the past two years.

Taylor has worked for the sheriff’s office for 20 years and served as Whetsel’s undersheriff for about 14 of those. In seeking the top job, Taylor said he’s nothing like his former boss. Now he has the chance to prove it. He must follow through on his campaign promise to run the office with “diligence and integrity,” and improve an office that badly needs it.