***UPDATE***
Media Advisory Distributed Friday, Dec. 7, 2007
(Scroll to bottom of post for other updates.)

[Original Post]

Northeast Tech Center (you may know this better as NE Vo-Tech) has a 400% tax increase on the ballot in Rogers County, but they don’t want anyone to know about it.

Thanks to the watchful eyes of the Oologah Lake Leader, we do know about it.

Voters in Rogers and seven other counties are scheduled to take part in a special election next Tuesday, Dec. 11, to decide on the proposed increase in NTC’s building fund levy and to decide whether to make the increase permanent.

But until the Leader began an investigation Monday, the election was a well-kept secret – even from top county officials and AEP-Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, which would face a $308,000 hit in Rogers County alone from the higher tax.

PSO customers could eventually pay twice, because such taxes are a factor in setting utility rates.

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The NTC board voted on Oct. 1 to call the election but issued no public notice until Nov. 28, school spokesman Gary Fox confirmed Tuesday.

The only announcement made last week was a legal notice in the Pryor Daily Times – the smaller of the two legal newspaper in Mayes county. Neither it nor its larger weekly competitor, The Paper, makes any claim to be a regional newspaper (such as the Tulsa World or The Oklahoman).

By law, NTC is required to publish a notice in a newspaper “of general circulation in Northeast Technology Center School District No. 11.”

Monday – just eight days before the election and after the deadline for some newspapers in the district – the school issued a press release to some news organizations.

That statement did not disclose the amount of money the tax increase would generate, $4.4 million, or that the largest payment – $1.8 million – would come from Rogers County. The figures were provided to the Leader Tuesday following a written request.

The statement also did not disclose that the increase represented a 400 percent increase in the building levy, from 1 mill to 5 mills. That means that the tax from this one levy on a $200,000 house would jump from about $20 to $100 a year.

First, thank goodness for real journalists like John Wylie at the Leader.

Second, just for their sneaky behavior, NE Tech Center should apologize and fire whomever was behind this covert effort.

Third, this tax increase should fail miserably. I, for one, will be doing my part to see that it does.

Tell your friends!

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Update: Thanks to Michael Bates for helping spread the word and pointing out my typo (in a headline, no less).

Update (Dec. 7, 2007, at 3:45 PM): I have been in email contact with Gary Fox, Director of Marketing and Communications for Northeast Tech Center. He wishes me to clarify the 400% number in my headline. He points out–correctly–what I believe is quite evident in the original Leader news story:

the increase represent[s] a 400 percent increase in the building levy

rather than a 400% increase in the overall NTC taxes. He calculates–and seems to be proud that–the overall tax increase is 37%, give or take. I guess compared to 400%, 37% sounds much better. It’s still an increase of over a third. Would you accept that from anyone else without an opportunity to discuss it?

Let me be clear. While I do not fancy a tax increase–of either 400% or 37%–the issue is not the amount of the increase. It is the manner in which the tax increase has been attempted. When an entity depends on the hard-earned taxes of landowners to operate, that entity should tread carefully and respectfully while having its hand out for more. NTC has not done so. Even if the current millage proposal does pass, there will be a legal challenge and the election will be invalidated.

All told, I think it is very telling that Mr. Fox read a headline stating

NE Tech Center Tries to Sneak 400% Tax Increase Past Voters

and was concerned with the 400% number rather than the part about attempting to sneak the measure past voters.

Mr. Fox also notes that

The reason we chose to release the info to the newspapers when we did was to put forth the needs and information to the people immediately before the voting date so that they would have the issues fresh on their minds with just a week to go to the polls. I suppose if we would have released the information in October, people would have accused us of releasing it early in hopes the voters would forget about it.

What the late release date did was place NTC in a positive position and minimize the opportunity for public dissent. Assume I wanted to rally a group of friends to buy radio time opposed to the tax increase. There simply would not have been time. If it were not for this blog, some online friends, and email, very few would even know about this matter.

Lastly, Mr. Fox’s statement about being accused of realeasing information too early is merely a red herring. Has that ever happened in the history of millage elections?