February 5, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
Elk City, city leaders are making their final approach to their Tuesday CAPPS election visiting community service organizations and other interested groups in town.
The CAPPs program is Elk City’s version of Oklahoma City’s successful MAPPs program of past years. CAPPS stands for Community Action Project Plans as opposed to OKC’s Metropolitan Area Project Plans.
Elk City, City Manager Lee Litterell says the program is comprised of projects that will put Elk City on the map, putting Elk City ahead of other communities in Western Oklahoma. It includes the possibilities of bringing in a new co nference center, an AG expo center or a wellness activity center. Projects that are all being discussed as possibilities, projects that are designed, Litterell says, to improve the quality of life in Elk City for it’s citizens.
It’ll be funded by a one-cent city sales tax, not a new tax. It’s on the books right now, but it’s set to end. City leaders want it to continue and redirect the money to CAPPS.
Taxing carries with it, many times, a negative connotation, but Litterell says a recent land-line, telephone survey of likely voters indicated they’re in favor of keeping the tax around for community projects.
Litterell says these community-building projects will be funded through an extension of the existing Pioneer Center Sales Tax. That tax currently runs through 2023 and an extension is being proposed through 2043.
The CAPPS program is a long-term plan that, city leaders say, attempts to provide something for everyone in the form of municipal investments that will pay dividends for decades to come and will include an indoor sports facility, aquatic center, playgrounds, splash pads and hiking and biking trails.
Litterell says there doesn’t seem to be any group that has been vocally opposed to the plan.
Polls are open from 7 to 7 on Tuesday.
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