logo
Login Subscribe
Google Play App Store
  • News
    • Obituaries
    • Lifestyle
    • Opinions
  • Sports
  • E-edition
  • Calendar
  • Archives
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertisers
    • Form Submission
    • About Us
    • News
      • Obituaries
      • Lifestyle
      • Opinions
    • Sports
    • E-edition
    • Calendar
    • Archives
    • Contact
      • Contact Us
      • Advertisers
      • Form Submission
      • About Us
news
November 8, 2023
County proposes countywide lodging tax of 5 percent
By Commissioner Grider asks for city?s support,

JERRY FINK

MANAGING EDITOR

The Eufaula City Council has agreed to a request by McIntosh County District 2 County Commissioner Monty Grider to support his plan to impose a 5 percent countywide Hotel/Motel Tax.

“We aren’t coming after anything in the city limits (of Eufaula or Checotah). This is just the county,” Grider said.

Speaking at the monthly Council meeting Monday, he noted that the Dallas-Fort Worth and other areas have a lodging tax as high as 13 percent.

“We’re asking for 5 percent,” he said.

Businesses such as the county’s two motels, numerous Air B&B facilities, RV sites, overnight and short-term rentals, resorts and cabins in Mc-Intosh County currently don’t pay a lodging tax.

But folks who use these places drive up county expenses, such as for law enforcement, fire protection and other costs.

“Right now the county depends solely on a sales tax,” Grider said.

The tax isn’t sufficient to meet the needs of the county and the commissioners are looking for other sources of income.

He said Cherokee County has a countywide lodging tax and the commissioners turned to them for advice and help in drafting a proposal that he hopes will be on 2024 Presidential.

Grider said the Lake Eufaula Association is on board with the proposal. After Monday’s vote, the Eufaula City Council also supports the proposal.

If the tax passes, it will be collected by the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

Other business City Manager Jeb Jones announced that Eufaula has been approved for a federallyfunded COPS Hiring Grant. The grant will be good for three years and pays for 75 percent of a new officer’s salary.

“This is a yearly grant and it’s the first time we’ve had one,” Jones said. “We will be applying for one every year.”

Also, the Council approved a low bid of $40,800 ($4.25 per square foot) by Steve Hughes Construction of Seminole for the construction of the new fire station on SH 9.

The pre-fab is being assembled off-site and will be erected at the city-owned property when completed.

The bid is just for the building, insulation, walk-in doors. Garage doors are a separate item, not included in the bid.

The city received two bids. The second bid was by Lewis Fencing in McAlester, in the amount of $49,000.

A payment of $26,459.22 to Voy Construction for its latest work on the splash pad on the east side of town was approved by the council.

“This is our final payment for the splash pad itself,” Jones said.

The original bid for the overall project was $700,000, but the city was able to save money by doing some of the work in-house.

“We picked up some of the project ourselves,” Jones said, “including utilities – electric, water and sewer. Our final part is the bathroom – and we are working on those plans now. We will bid those out, but if it’s too high we will do it in-house.”

The council also agreed to a payment of $97,364.24 to Lone Hickory Cattle for the city’s sewer improvement project.

Also, it agreed to dispose of a 2017 Dodge Charger police vehicle with serious mechanical problems.

“It was taken to Auto Doctors and determined to have motor failure that would require replacement. I recommend that we declare the unit surplus and dispose of the vehicle,” Jones said.

The annual 4th of July Fireworks show
A: Main, news
The annual 4th of July Fireworks show
July 9, 2025
Eufaula’s population was swollen over the weekend as thousands of out-of-towners joined locals to watch the annual 4th of July Fireworks show, held Friday, July 4. The display took place over the Eufa...
A: Main, news
City gets more attorneys; OKs growth plan
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
New-and-former City Manager Jacob Foos continues to make changes at city hall. Shortly after being re-hired for the position he left in September, 2021, Foos issued a statement that he was establishin...
Local resident stars in U.S. Cellular ad
A: Main, news
Local resident stars in U.S. Cellular ad
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
In all of her 58 years Louana Christie, EHS Class of ’85, never thought she would appear before a camera. Movie making was for her older sister, Selina Jayne Dornan, former Eufaula mayor and who once ...
A: Main, news
Eufaula school feels the chill from Trump’s funding freeze
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
When the Trump administration announced this week it was freezing over $70 million in education funding earmarked for Oklahoma, it surprised a lot of administrators. Eufaula School Superintendent Mont...
A: Main, news
Trump freezes over $70 million in state’s education funds
July 9, 2025
States won’t receive funds from six federal programs, including after-school care and English learner support, until further notice. NURIA MARTINEZ-KEEL OKLAHOMA VOICE OKLAHOMA CITY — The Trump admini...
Noah Alexander trades football uniform for West Point uniform
A: Main, news
Noah Alexander trades football uniform for West Point uniform
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
July 9, 2025
Noah Alexander will begin his senior year at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., this fall. It seems like only yesterday he was a stand-out running back for the Eufaula Ironheads, ...
ePaper
google_play
app_store
Editor Picks
Bud McCombs to speak to Friends of Library
news
Bud McCombs to speak to Friends of Library
By LENORE BECHTEL 
July 9, 2025
How Eufaula happened to exist will be Friend’s speaker’s topic at the Eufaula Memorial Library at 1 p.m. Friday, July 18, When Eufaula was only an intersection, the city’s founding fathers lived in a ...
news
Annual Memorial Service planned at Honey Springs Battlefield
July 9, 2025
CHECOTAH — Honey Springs Battlefield will hold its annual memorial service on Saturday, July 19, at 10:30 a.m. to honor the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Honey Springs near Checotah. The service ...
Calls needed to protect National Weather Service operations
commentary
Calls needed to protect National Weather Service operations
By JOE DORMAN OICA CEO 
July 9, 2025
OKLAHOMA CITY – We at the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) extend our deepest condolences to families tragically impacted by the recent flooding in Texas. Flooding along the Guadalupe Rive...
news
Jeff Starling launches campaign for attorney general
July 9, 2025
TULSA ––Jeff Starling, Oklahoma’s Secretary of Energy and Environment, has officially announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Oklahoma. Starling is a conservative, attorney, businessman, and d...
Warriors of God, ready yourselves
commentary
Warriors of God, ready yourselves
July 9, 2025
Of my 56 years of being in this world, 50 of those years I have been filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I was only six years old when I attended my first Tiger Mount...
Facebook

THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL
100 N. 2nd Street
Eufaula, OK 74432

(918) 689-2191

This site complies with ADA requirements

© 2023 THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Policy