Sallisaw residents approved a half-cent sales tax for the $13 million project by a vote of 937 to 214, or 81.4 percent for the project to 18.6 percent against. (See complete election results on page A-8 of this edition of Your TIMES.)
The sales tax will return the city sales tax to 9 percent. A half-cent sales tax for expanding the Carl Albert State College Sequoyah County Sallisaw campus ended last month when those bonds were paid off. The next tax will go into effect Jan. 1, and is expected to generate about $575,000 a year.
Mayor Shannon Vann said Wednesday morning, "We're pretty happy with it. We're excited it passed.
"The voters will always respond when they see the need."
The need was made obvious in a report by Hawkins-Weir Engineers Inc. of Van Buren, Ark., which did the most recent study on the city's water system. The report was submitted to Sallisaw officials in March.
The engineering report said the city's water system was operating at capacity, and suggest the following improvements be made:
