07/18/2026
Sales Tax Town Hall Meeting Tuesday, July 21st at 7:00 PM
The city will host a second town hall meeting next Tuesday evening, July 21st at 7:00 PM. It will be held in the Community Room at the Blanchard Pioneer Library located at 205 NE 10th St. The city encourages the public to attend, watch the presentation, ask questions and offer additional suggestions.
This public meeting will address the upcoming election on August 25th, that will be asking the public to extend the current one penny sales tax. That penny is currently dedicated to capital investment projects for the city. At that meeting, all attendees will be provided with a list of projects that have been completed, over the past 19+ years, with the funds collected by our current one penny sales tax.
A Citizens Ad-Hoc Committee has been meeting since March, suggesting and identifying those projects that need to be addressed in the future. Those committee members include Luke Short, Gale Gendron, Mike Whaley, Steve VanCamp Sr and Lindsey Stacy. They have served along with Mayor Michael Scalf Sr and Vice Mayor Chuck Kemper. Our City Manager, Roger Kolman, has also participated in those meetings with his legal guidance and advice. The current one penny sales tax, which is dedicated to funding such projects, will expire on July 1, 2027. This committee has been working diligently to justify the extension of that penny sales tax.
Keep in mind that raising this money through sales tax allows visitors to Blanchard to contribute toward the city’s capital project needs, when they spend money in Blanchard. This distributes the burden of funding our infrastructure needs to individuals who do not even live here. This is a much better method of funding, rather than acquiring GO bonds, which would only place that burden upon those who live and own property in Blanchard. Keep in mind that Oklahoma state law prohibits cities in this state from receiving any property tax, so the city must operate only on their designated percentage of sales tax collected within Blanchard. Currently in Blanchard, our local amount of sales tax is 5%, of which 2% is dedicated to a special fund.
We look forward to seeing you at the Pioneer Library on the evening of Tuesday, July 21st at 7:00 PM. It is important to know exactly where all of your local tax dollars are being spent. Personal involvement, through direct questions and answers, in a face-to-face environment, provides increased verification of the transparency of our local government. The city needs to know how the public feels that they should best use the continuation of the current one penny sales tax.
