Forward Thinking Plan of the Day

I had heard about this one a while back but had forgotten.  The vote is next week:

Oklahoma County voters will have an opportunity next month to take a step into the future for themselves and for Tinker Air Force Base. On May 13, voters will decide through a bond election whether the county will spend $55 million to buy the former General Motors plant, now vacant, then lease it to Tinker.

Though the Air Force's three Air Logistics Center depots, including Tinker, are expected to see a decline in work by 2020, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said buying the GM plant for Tinker makes sense. He said it would help attract work to replace what's projected to be lost.  ...

Proponents of buying the GM plant pitch it as a golden opportunity for Tinker to improve its efficiency by consolidating most operations at the plant, which would mean dozens of base buildings could be demolished because they wouldn't be needed anymore."

That's right: Oklahoma County voters are asked to burden themselves with more debt to have a buddy-buddy deal with the local Air Force Base.  I do not remember a statement from officials as to why the AFB does not simply buy the facility itself.  Based on the expected decline in work, I would have to say that Tinker AFB realizes it doesn't make financial sense for them to purchase the building.  So they convince the county (or the county sees the opportunity) to buy some property, let Tinker have what it wants, and make "profit" off of the rest.  Just a guess.

I also went to the Oklahoma County Commissioners' webpage on the bond issue and found that there is, of course, no cost benefit analysis on what voters would actually stand to gain from this.  But there's a really neat jet graphic!