CHICKASHA — Local residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to finance construction of a new water treatment plant with a capital improvements sales tax.
Of the 1,287 votes counted, the proposal was endorsed 1,206 to 81, or 93.71% yes to 6.29% no. The total vote represented 16% of the 7,958 registered voters in Chickasha’s nine precincts.
The proposition was approved by 81% of the 37 people who voted absentee by mail, 95% of the 160 voters who cast in-person absentee ballots, and by 93.94% of the 1,090 residents who voted on Election Day.
Chickasha residents opted to renew and increase a sales tax that’s dedicated to capital improvements; that levy, three-quarters of 1%, is scheduled to expire at the end of this year. The Chickasha Municipal Authority (CMA) asked residents to renew the levy and increase it by one-half penny, to 1.25%.
If the sales tax measure had failed, the City Council previously voted to automatically raise water rates on October 1, 2023 – by an average of 82%.
Approximately $74 million is the projected cost of the new water treatment plant, including engineering, construction, and buying land, city officials reported.
The CMA intends to finance the water plant project using proceeds from a loan of up to $72 million approved last month by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, coupled with several million dollars in existing capital outlay funds.
The CMA has tentatively proposed to locate the new treatment plant near the existing plant off Genevieve Street, but on a tract of land that’s not in the flood zone; however, no decision has been finalized, Mayor Chris Mosley told the Southwest Ledger on July 13.
The new facility envisioned by the Municipal Authority would be capable of producing up to 6 million gallons of drinking water daily “with provisions to expand to 8 mgd.” The treatment process would include pre-treatment, clarification, filtration and disinfection, the CMA said.
Construction of the new water plant is expected to take three years to complete, city officials said.
The existing water plant was built around 60 or 70 years ago and is lacking in modern technological advancements in water purification.
In one other southwest Oklahoma election Tuesday, residents of Carnegie voted almost unanimously – 60-to-1 – to renew a franchise with their electricity provider, Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, for another 25 years.