#OKCBOXSCORE
Open house to show off depot restoration
Children are a focus ofa Dec. 9 open house for there novated Santa Ferail road depot in downtown Oklahoma City. The open house will feature actors dressed in period costumes from the depot’s Art Deco heyday in the 1930s. Kids can pick up a free train whistle and train safety coloring book, while supplies last, and put together a holiday craft. The event begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Santa Fe Station, 100 S E.K. Gaylord Blvd. Nearby parking includes the Century Center, Cox Center and Santa Fe garages.
Streetcar shop construction wraps up
The Oklahoma City downtown streetcar’s maintenance shop and storage barn is ready to go to work. The 22,400-square-foot shop cost about $6 million to build and equip, and construction took about 16 months. The shop includes indoor and outdoor storage tracks, administrative and dispatch offices, and a service bay where technicians can work on the $4.5 million vehicles from above and below. The $131 million streetcar system is to begin service in about a year.
Of note: The limestone for the shop’s facade was cut from the same quarry that supplied the limestone for historic Union Station, just east of the shop across Hudson Avenue.
Streetcar construction
MAPS 3 streetcar construction is underway throughout downtown. For updates, follow the weekly downtown area traffic advisory online at okc.gov.
By the numbers
• $799.5 million: Total revenue city finance officials say the 1-cent MAPS 3 sales tax will raise by the time it expires Dec. 31, nearly $23 million more than originally forecast. Another $20 million in interest will drive the total higher.
• $31 million: Debt Oklahoma City will take on to build a $40 million parking garage for the new convention centerand convention center hotel. The other $9 million is to come from MAPS 3; the city council is to discuss the plan Dec. 5.
Since OKC vote, sales taxes pass
Since Oklahoma City voters approved increasing the sales tax by a quartercent to hire more police officers and firefighters, two east-metro suburbs have won passage of similar sales tax proposals. Last week, Del City voters approved a half-cent increase for the police and fire departments. In October, Midwest City voters approved raising their sales tax three-quarters of a cent to hire six police officers and three firefighters. Oklahoma City expects the sales tax increase approved Sept. 12 to raise$26 million per year. Plans are to add 129 police officers and 42 firefighters.
Present/absent
Mayor Mick Cornett and seven of the eight city council members attended the Nov. 7 meeting. Ward 5 Councilman David Greenwell was away.
The week ahead
The Oklahoma City Council meets at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 200 N Walker Ave. The council will vote on a revised utility rate structure and increases in water and sewer rates.
Hiring freeze lifted
Oklahoma City’s hiring freeze has been lifted, two years after it was imposed by City Manager Jim Couch. In that time, the number of authorized positions in the city’s budget has dropped by 99, from 4,743to 4,644. The hiring freeze took effect as city revenue, primarily sales tax collections, slipped as oil and gas prices fell. Sales tax revenue has now been on the upswing for seven consecutive months and the city’s budget director, Doug Dowler, said “revenue is coming in on target so far this year.”
Of note: Dowler said the city’s consulting economists at Oklahoma City University “have given us preliminary information that indicates sales tax will continue to stay on track this fiscal year.”