Check out the presentation on the 1/2 Cent Sales Tax here!

Half-Cent Sales Tax Needs Your Vote

The history of the half-cent sales tax shows us that the City of Cleveland’s half-cent sales tax was passed for the first time in July 1995, and then most recently passed in June 2013.
 The City of Cleveland’s half-cent sales tax has raised approximately $1.8 million since September 2013. The current half-cent sales tax brings in around $275,000 annually.  Because of  the half-cent sales tax the city was fortunate enough to have the matching funds to get approximately $400,000 additional grant funds for the below projects. 

The City of Cleveland has been able to complete roughly 33 street projects, 8 street repairs, 6 water/sewer projects, and 21 water/sewer repairs for a total of 68 projects/repairs with the grant money and the half-cent sales tax money. 

On August 25, the citizens will again vote on the half-cent sales tax.  It’s important to note that we have an opportunity to raise much needed revenue for building repair, maintaining of capital improvements, operation/maintenance of the street department, operation/maintenance of infrastructure, and economic development purposes.

Understanding the sales tax break down is an important part of understanding why your vote counts. Sales tax varies from city to city, not only in the amount paid but in the breakdown of how the money is distributed. Now let’s understand who gets part of the City of Cleveland’s 10% sales tax.

It can be quite complex from municipality to municipality.

The City of Cleveland’s current sales tax is 10% but that does not all go to the City of Cleveland. Here is the breakdown:

• 4.5% State of Oklahoma-goes straight to State of Oklahoma-nothing to the City of Cleveland
• 2% Pawnee County-goes straight to Pawnee County- nothing to the City of Cleveland
• 3.5% City of Cleveland
  1. Of the 3.5% that the City of Cleveland collects here is where it goes:
     • 1% Goes to Cleveland Area Hospital 
     • 2% Goes to City of Cleveland’s General Fund
     • .5% Water/Sewer/Streets (Re-Vote August 25 Ballot)

Now that we know sales tax is broken down by state, county, and city, we can see that the only amount that is consistent in each city is the amount that goes to the State of Oklahoma. Each county and city amount varies depending on a vote of the people within their community. 

Sales Tax Comparison Chart

The below chart is important to better understand how little the City of Cleveland actually gets to keep out of the 10% sales tax the citizens pay compared to the surrounding cities. 

So as you can see, the City of Cleveland only gets 2.5% for operations or projects.  That amount is lower than a minimum of 1 cent than the communities around us. That is if the half-cent sales tax continues.   If it does not then we will be a 1 ½ cent below other surrounding communities.

Cost to the citizens if the half-cent sales tax passes, should have no impact on your household finances as you are already paying it. To better understand the amount of money a household contributes, the half-cent sales tax added to a weekly $100.00 grocery purchase is only $.50 per week and the half-cent sales tax added to a monthly spending of $1000.00 is only $5.00 per month. 

Your vote on August 25, 2020 will determine the future of this half-cent sales tax.