Oklahoma voters will decide Aug. 25 whether to allow the state to opt out of paying for one of its longest-running economic development programs — and school leaders in some of the state’s fastest-growing local economies say the change could end up reducing funding for schools statewide.State Question 844 would amend the Oklahoma Constitution so the Legislature would no longer be required to reimburse local towns, counties and school districts for property tax revenue they lose out on when new and expanding manufacturing facilities take advantage of the state’s five-year property tax exemption.Proponents, including House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, said lawmakers need greater control over a reimbursement system they argue has become increasingly expensive and uneven, with only a handful of counties receiving the bulk of payments.
Neither Hilbert nor Paxton were available for interviews for this story.At the center of the issue are school districts such as Pryor, where major manufacturing investments including an ever-expanding Google data center have generated millions of dollars in property tax exemptions.“The complaint is that only a few counties are receiving the majority of the reimbursements, but those counties have a disproportionate amount of their ad valorem being waived,” said Pryor Superintendent Lisa Muller. “If this program didn’t exist, we would just collect.”
