Municipal firefighters fret about funding  
Capitol Report for dailies for week of April 2, 2006
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau

Oklahoma legislators are grappling with sales tax issues ranging from funding municipal fire departments to a sales tax holiday. 
Rural fire departments, reinforced by pie suppers and the like through months of constant fire danger, have nearly $9 million in new money while municipal departments that do not share in the Legislature's largesse may again be jittery about their revenue source.
"Our budget is heavily dependent on the sales tax," said Mustang Fire Chief Carl Hickman. "To reduce the sales tax just a little could mean a huge difference."
Efforts have been made for years to eliminate the sales tax on groceries and grant other sales tax exemptions.
In related action, a Senate-passed bill creating a back-to-school sales tax holiday on clothing items was on the House agenda for Monday. Border cities argue it is necessary to prevent a hemorrhaging of revenue caused by promotions in nearby Texas. 
Gov. Brad Henry has endorsed the proposal.
"I don't like to pay taxes, and tax cuts sound good, but we have to pay for the services," he said. "I think most departments would be opposed to any reduction in the sales tax."
Hickman's department battled alongside 15 others as flames devoured more than $1 million in property Dec. 27. 
Some of the firefighters were volunteers who emptied their pockets to keep their sputtering old trucks running.
"I'm certainly am not opposed to assisting those departments," Hickman said.
Sales taxes support the police and other services and in some cities, he said, portions are earmarked for such projects as hospitals, water and sewer systems and streets.
Dave Herbert, former state senator and former Midwest City mayor who now represents county governments at the Legislature, said a city might use a bond issue to buy a new fire truck but "all the other equipment need is funded by the sales tax."
"City services are fully funded by the sales tax," he said. "That's why the cities start raising Cain when they talk about cutting the sales tax on food."
Danny George, executive director of the Oklahoma Municipal League, wrote in the League's March newsletter that a U.S. League of Cities report said on average cities and towns elsewhere get only about 6 percent of their annual budget from sales taxes.  
"A sales tax holiday or any addition to the ever-growing list of sales tax exemptions would further cripple our ability to provide the people in our cities and towns - that is, Oklahomans - with the most basic protection and services communities need to survive."
Rural departments are even worse off than those supported by sales taxes, supplementing their Department of Agriculture Forestry Division grants with pie suppers and similar local fund-raisers.
Rep. Curt Roggow, R-Hillsdale, who steered Senate Bill 1190 through the House, expects to see more counties voting for special sales taxes to support their rural firefighters. It pays off in better fire insurance ratings, he said.
"We have it in Garfield County, a quarter of a cent sales tax that has cut my insurance rate by half," said Roggow.
SB 1190, signed by the governor after weeks of partisan friction, raises operational grants from the current $2,774 to more than $5,100 per department. It also includes $2 million in a fund for equipment repair, $1.4 million for the incident command post at Shawnee and $1 million to reimburse rural departments for their expenditures.
Such issues as the larger equipment fund sought by Democrats and a system of satellite stations to bolster local efforts may be addressed in subsequent legislation. 
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A bill that would require libraries to separate books with sexual content, under threat of loss of funding, did not receive a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education, meaning it could be dead for the current legislative session.
The bill by Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, would have had to be approved by the subcommittee to advance to the full education committee before next week's deadline.
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Legislation barring professional licensing associations from interfering with doctor participation at executions, as occurred recently in California, advanced the Senate floor.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 for House Bill 2260 by Rep. Paul Roan, D-Tishomingo, and Sen. Jeff Rabon, D-Hugo, after hearing that Oklahoma's chief medical officer has been threatened with litigation by a Texas group.
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Senate Bill 1693, setting a moratorium on incentive programs that have been used gain inflated tax credits, is on the House agenda for Monday. Gov. Brad Henry issued an executive order placing a roadblock in the path of potential profiteers.
Rep. Al Lindley, D-Oklahoma City, is scheduled to finally get a committee hearing Monday on his bill to legalize and regulate tattooing in Oklahoma, the only state where it is illegal. His repeated previous efforts have died without a hearing.
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A minimum wage increase petition, mentioned here two weeks ago, has been filed with the Secretary of State's office. A group called Raise Oklahoma will have 90 days to collect 117,000 signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.  It would boost the current $5.15 by $1 an hour next Jan. 1 and by another $1 Jan. 1, 2008.
Similar efforts have been undertaken in 19 other states.
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