Voters Face Tinker Base GOs

Voters in Oklahoma County will go to the polls today to decide on an $84.6 million general obligation bond issue that would provide $55 million to buy an abandoned automobile factory that the county would lease to Tinker Air Force Base.

County Commission chairman Ray Vaughn said last week in a presentation to the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce that the project would create up to 3,000 new jobs and protect thousands of other jobs at the sprawling base.

If voters approve, the county would buy the closed General Motors plant and lease the 3.8-million-square-foot facility to the Air Force. The move would allow the base to consolidate many aviation maintenance and repair operations and close 69 smaller buildings.

Col. Evan M. Miller, director of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Plans and Programs Directorate, said turning the plant into a maintenance facility would increase the base’s efficiency and effectiveness.

He said the Air Force expects to spend up to $100 million to convert the car factory to an aircraft and engine maintenance facility, but would avoid $463 million in future construction costs.

The bond package will also include $10.5 million for renovations to the county courthouse, $7.3 million to replace a county extension building on the local campus of Oklahoma State University, $6 million for flood relief, and $5.8 million to build a county government records retention center.

Oklahoma County’s GO debt carries an underlying rating of Aa2 from Moody’s Investors Service, the only agency that rates the county’s property tax bonds.

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