Elected Comanche County officials and superintendents of all public schools in the county have expressed their concerns about proposals to fiddle with ad valorem taxes.
The 19 county and school officials signed their names on a letter mailed to the 149 members of the Oklahoma Legislature. “As a unified coalition … we write to express our serious concerns regarding proposals to substantially increase homestead exemptions” – such as plans to raise it to $5,000 (Senate Bill 1809) or $7,000 (House Bill 4145) versus the current $1,000 – “or to eliminate ad valorem taxes” altogether (Senate Bill 1121).
Property taxes are “the financial backbone of local government and public education in Oklahoma,” the officials noted. In Comanche County, revenue from ad valorem taxes supports “essential services that our citizens rely on daily,” including:
•Public education operations and debt service requirements.
•Public safety services, including law enforcement and emergency management.
•Career and technical education programs.
•County health and community services.
“While we understand and respect the desire to provide property tax relief to homeowners, broad expansion of homestead exemptions or elimination of ad valorem taxes would have significant and farreaching consequences.”
Local ad valorem tax revenue provides “critical funding stability” for school districts. Property taxes, the county and school officials pointed out, are used to maintain safe and functional facilities, pay bonded indebtedness for school construction and improvements, support transportation infrastructure, and offset operations costs that are not fully covered by state aid.
Slashing the local tax base “would either force districts to reduce services, staffing and programming, or shift the burden to the State of Oklahoma,” placing additional pressure on the state budget and potentially creating funding instability across all districts.
Bond rating also could be negatively affected if local revenue streams become “uncertain,” thereby increasing borrowing costs for future capital projects “and ultimately costing taxpayers more over time.”
Stable local funding is “foundational to long-term economic development,” the Comanche County coalition wrote.
Businesses considering investment in Comanche County “evaluate the quality of public schools, the reliability of infrastructure, and the stability of local government services.” Weakening the primary local funding mechanism “risks undermining the very community assets that attract employers, support workforce development, and sustain property values.”
Property taxes fund essential county operations. In Comanche County, those dollars directly support rural infrastructure critical to agriculture and economic development, operations of the county courthouse, and public safety and emergency response.
Counties do not have broad alternative taxing authority to replace any ad valorem revenue that is lost. “The likely result would be deferred maintenance, reduced public services, and deterioration of critical infrastructure,” the county and school officials warned.
The coalition urged the Legislature to “carefully model the long-term fiscal impact on counties and school districts,” ensure that any tax policy changes include “a sustainable, guaranteed replacement revenue source,” protect bonded indebtedness and credit ratings, and “preserve local control and fiscal stability.”
Property tax policy is complex. Unintended consequences “could significantly harm rural and mid-sized counties” such as Comanche County. Any reform should be “deliberate, data-driven, and structured to avoid destabilizing local government and public education systems.”