OKLAHOMA COUNTY – Voters in Oklahoma County Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposed new sales tax that some County officials hoped would fund the long in-development, and long troubled, new Oklahoma County Detention Center.
Despite high-profile and well-funded support from District 2 Commissioner Brian Maughan, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, The Greater OKC Chamber, and The Arnall Family Foundation, the jail tax measure fell flat with voters county-wide, with more than 62% of voters rejecting the proposal Tuesday.
The proposition would have added a 0.4% sales tax to purchases in Oklahoma County for the next 25 years, long enough, proponents said, to fund the full construction of the sprawling planned detention “campus” in southeastern OKC near Del City, and to staff the facility for the next two decades.
But the tax proved to be a hard sell, as voters already approved $260 million for the jail’s construction in 2022, an amount that officials now say was woefully under-budgeted, with the full projected cost now – just four years later – reaching past $800 million.
That $260 million is now reportedly largely depleted after the construction of little more than an intake center, a kitchen, and a laundry on the new site
The fate of the full project is now uncertain. Officials have offered no alternative funding source or contingency, even as the current jail is facing significant overcrowding and conditions inside that have repeatedly been described as “inhumane.”
When asked at a Chamber-sponsored discussion forum last month what would happen if the vote failed to pass, Oklahoma Secretary of Public Safety Tricia Everest replied pointedly: “Do I need to open up one of our state prisons? I mean, we’ll have to. That’s the absolute, 100% disaster of what’s going to happen.”
Incoming District 3 County Commissioner Jennifer Mayo was, herself, vocally opposed to the new jail tax, and she staked much of her campaign on that opposition. Her presence on the County’s highest government body could further change the future of the new jail plan, as she and District 1 Commissioner Jason Lowe – also an outspoken opponent of the plan – now leave Maughan as the sole commissioner in support.
Brett Fieldcamp is the owner and Editor in Chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly two decades and served as Arts & Entertainment Editor before purchasing the company from founder Brett Dickerson in 2026.
He is also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
