STILLWATER, Okla. — The debate over how Payne County’s road funds should be split boils down to should the money be divided by population or road use.

District 1 Commissioner Zach Cavett thinks population should be the guide, District 3 Commissioner Jim Arthur supports road use.

Monday, commissioners voted 2-1 to distribute sales tax funds between the county’s two road districts unevenly with District 3 getting 65 percent and District 1 35 percent.

Previously, that money had been divided evenly.

Arthur and District 2 Commissioner Gloria Hesser voted to change the split while newly elected Cavett voted against it after unsuccessfully attempting to table the item so he could have time to study the issue.

Arthur said following the meeting that the new sales tax split is designed to reflect where the traffic, population growth and sales tax is generated.

“I don’t feel I’m being unfair,” he said. “I have to have dollars to take care of these roads.”

Payne County has three districts. District 2 is within Stillwater city limits, and those roads are maintained by the city of Stillwater.

After the federally mandated Census redistricting in 2011, Payne County District 1 gained a few roads adjacent to southeast Stillwater, but the district largely encompasses the county’s eastern half including Glencoe, Ripley, Cushing and Yale.

District 3 surrounds the majority of Stillwater, covering the western half of the county and Perkins.

Each district is required to have a population within 5 percent of one another, but Arthur said that doesn’t take into account the fact the roads he maintains are heavily traveled by Stillwater residents who live in District 2.

“The population is here, and these roads are run heavy,” he said. “Things will change, but the growth will always be over here.”

Arthur said he recently conducted a 24-hour traffic count on Western Road south of 32nd Avenue near Stillwater and nearly 5,000 vehicles used that road.

He also said District 3 has dirt roads that get as much traffic as asphalt roads in District 1.

District 3 recently completed eight miles of asphalt roads east of Stillwater, Arthur said, which went to District 1 during redistricting.

He also said his district helps the Payne County Expo Center and the sheriff’s department regularly, which both have facilities located within his district.

“Everything is on this side of the county, and we take care of it,” Arthur said.

Arthur said the 65/35 split amount seems appropriate to him, but added commissioners could re-evaluate the division to make sure its fair.

“Maybe in a year we need to look at the tax deal again,” Arthur said.

Of the 77 counties in Oklahoma, Payne is one of three counties — along with Noble and Comanche — that has just two road districts. Commissioners decide how road funds are divided, according to Oklahoma laws.

Randy Robinson, a transportation engineer for the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, said that the number of counties that divide road funds equally between districts numbers in the 60s, but he said dividing it unequally is not unusual.



Fighting over funding

Cavett said Monday he wanted road-district funding to be fair. He questioned how the 65/35 was decided, saying it seemed as if that figure was pulled “out of thin air.”

The District 1 commissioner said he is gathering population figures and calculating the exact road miles and number of bridges, which he will present at the May 21 commission meeting.

Cavett said he expects a number of his constituents to show up at that meeting, many of whom he said told him they were “very upset” by Monday’s decision.

“They feel like they’ve been kind of lied to (because) since the origination of the (3/8-cent) sales tax it had always been split 50/50,” he said. “The District 1 voters that voted to pass it again (had) the understanding it would stay that way.”

The 3/8-cent county sales tax was extended for an additional five years by 85 percent of voters in February. Of the money generated by that tax, 53 percent goes to county road and bridge projects or maintenance. That money is divided at the start of the county’s fiscal year, which means the sales tax revenue will be divided 65/35 on July 1.

Cavett said Monday was the first he heard of the item to change the sales tax split. The county sends a preview of the agenda earlier in the week, and he said it was not on that preview. The issue was added before the final agenda was certified by 9 a.m. Friday to comply with the Open Meeting Act.

Cavett said he was attending an ACCO meeting when the final agenda came out. It did not leave him enough time to get back to his office, which closes at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays. Because of this, Cavett said he did not go by his office to see the revised agenda when it was faxed on Friday.

He also said the decision to lower his district’s funding seemed personal.

“It is sad that we have to fight amongst ourselves for funding because it is hard enough to get funding,” Cavett said. “I’d rather work with the other commissioners to promote Payne County as a whole instead of one side or the other.”

Arthur said the decision to change the split was based on county demographics, not personalities, He said he had discussed the possibility of changing the funding amounts with the county’s legal adviser two years ago.

Arthur said Cavett had time to do research and figure out what was on the agenda. He added that no one helped him learn the ropes when Arthur became commissioner.

Arthur said he wouldn’t let infighting affect county business.

“If you’re squabbling, you can’t do your best for the people in the county,” Arthur said. “I hope we get along.”