McAlester shoppers pay 10 cents in sales tax on every dollar. It's easy to assume that money stays here and fixes our streets. The truth is more complicated — and more urgent — than most people think.
Of every 10¢ you pay in McAlester sales tax, here's who gets what.
A significant portion of McAlester's city sales tax goes to bond debt service — obligations taken on years ago that today's taxpayers are still paying down.
That 1¢ of your dime going to bond repayment? It adds up to nearly $5 million this year alone — spread across notes and bonds dating back over a decade. That's money that can't touch a single pothole, water line, or foot of new pavement.
The good news: most of this regular debt retires by 2029. Annual payments drop from $4.8 million to under $500,000 — a dramatic cliff. The bad news: large balloon payments on deferred debt come due in the early 2030s, which the city will need to plan for.
This is the reality McAlester is operating in. The city's share of sales tax revenue is largely spoken for — servicing debt from past decisions while current infrastructure continues to age. At this rate, we're always borrowing to fix what breaks rather than investing to prevent it from breaking in the first place.
McAlester has more road than money. A lot more.
At $1.5 million a year and $1.5 million per lane mile, we can reconstruct about one lane mile of street per year. At that pace, it would take over 160 years to address all 166 lane miles.
The proposed 1% tax has a 10-year sunset. It's not forever. So the real question is simple: how much do we get done in those 10 years?
An additional 1% sales tax would generate an estimated $3–5 million per year — roughly tripling the city's infrastructure capacity. Over 10 years, that's the difference between fixing 10 lane miles and fixing 30 lane miles at current surface reconstruction costs. But the real question isn't just how many miles we fix — it's how well we fix them.
The most expensive mistake is fixing the surface without fixing what's below it.
Across America, cities face a $452 billion bill for water mains alone that have exceeded their useful life. McAlester is no exception. Aging water and sewer lines sit beneath our streets — and when they fail, the new pavement above them gets torn up to make repairs.
It costs more upfront. But it costs far less over the life of the road. Every dollar spent paving over a failing pipe is a dollar wasted. The principle is simple: never open the ground without fixing what's underneath.
Ordinance No. 2863 doesn't just fund streets — it funds "city infrastructure, including but not limited to, capital improvements to streets and related utility and drainage needs." The legal authority to fix what's underground is written into the measure. The question is whether we use it.
On April 7, McAlester voters will decide whether to approve a new 1% sales tax dedicated to infrastructure. Whatever you decide, make it an informed decision.
If this measure passes, how the money is spent will matter as much as having it. That's where the real work begins.
The newly created Citizens Street Improvement Commission will guide how this money is spent and develop a five-year master streets plan. We believe that before any street is resurfaced, the water and sewer infrastructure underneath should be assessed — and repaired if needed. Tearing up a road you just fixed is the most expensive mistake a city can make. We'll be following the commission's work and advocating for this principle. Check back here after the election for updates and information on how to engage with the commission.
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