Lincoln County commissioners have adopted a resolution calling for an election to renew the one cent county sales tax for another five years.
As they voted to adopt the resolution, they also changed some of the ballot language.
District 2 Commissioner Marlon Miller made a motion to take the overage from the courthouse improvement fund and put itineconomicdevelopment and leave everything else the same on the ballot.
Commission Chairman Lee Doolen explained that anything over the $120,000 the Lincoln County Extension Center receives from the sales tax will now go to the Economic Development fund.
The vote was 2-1 with Doolen dissenting. He wanted it to be split between Economic Development and the fire departments.
The current breakdown of the one cent sales tax as it stands today is this.
60 percent goes for county roads and bridge improvements.
Thirteen percent goes to the Lincoln County Jail. Six percent is for the Lincoln County Extension Center which is capped at $120,000.
Another seven percent goes to the Senior Citizen Nutrition sites.
Fire Departments receive 8.5 percent of the penny tax.
The Lincoln County Free Fair receives two percent. Currently, Economic Development receives two percent.
And Emergency Management and the Lincoln County Safety Office receive 1.5 percent.
Pau Simpson, the Rural Fire Defense Coordinator for the Central Oklahoma Economic Development Office (COEDD), explained 17 different fire departments throughout Lincoln County share in the 8.5 percent they receive and then there is a joint account they all use to purchase items the majority of the fire departments need like radio repeaters or a large ticket item that they can borrow from and then pay back.
Lincoln County Election Board Secretary Melissa Stambaugh said this week the sales tax renewal proposition will be on the ballot Feb. 14 ballot if she receives the resolution they passed by Dec. 15.