SPI Insights

Oklahoma – Voters approved the MAPS 4 sales tax proposition by more than 71 percent on December 10 that will fund 16 public improvement projects in Oklahoma City.

MAPS, which was first known as the Metropolitan Area Projects, is funded by a temporary penny sales tax that is expected to raise $978 million over the next eight years.

The MAPS 4 projects are:

• Park enhancements – $140 million for park system improvements;
• Chesapeake Energy Area – $115 million for capital maintenance and fan and vendor upgrades;
• Youth centers – $110 million to build four new youth centers;
• Transit – $87 million for advanced transit, bus purchases, signal prioritization, bus stop upgrades, land acquisition, and future planning;
• Sidewalks, bike lanes, trails, and streetlights – $87 million for these improvements;
• Innovation District – $71 million to support this district including $15 million to fund the construction of a small business development center, $25 million to improve connectivity in and around the district, and $10 million to create an “Innovation Hall”;
• Fairgrounds Coliseum – $63 million to build a new arena with $25 million in supplemental funding from hotel occupancy tax revenues;
• Affordable housing – $50 million for projects that help reduce homelessness;
• Mental health and addiction – $40 million including $22 million to build a new restoration center, $11 million to build two new health crisis centers, and $7 million to fund temporary crisis housing;
• Animal shelter – $38 million to build a main animal shelter to replace the city’s current facility;
• Family justice center – $38 million to support the construction of a permanent facility to be operated by a nonprofit. The program was originally created by the Oklahoma City Police Department;
• Multipurpose stadium – $37 million for a venue to host professional and high school soccer, concerts, and other events;
• Beautification – $30 million to improve entrance gateways, airport approaches, pedestrian bridges, and roadway landscaping in addition to at least $1 million for new trees;
• Senior health and wellness – $30 million to build a new senior wellness center and $15 million for an operating fund for scholarships to enable low-income seniors to use the MAPS senior centers;
• Freedom Center and Clara Luper Civil Rights Center – $25 million to renovate the city’s Freedom Center and construct the civil rights center; and,
• Diversion hub – $17 million to create a diversion hub to relieve pressure on the Oklahoma County jail and work with low-level offenders.

The MAPS 4 program will be overseen by a volunteer advisory board that makes recommendations to the Oklahoma City Council, which has final oversight.