Tulsa's charter says no property is exempt. That includes your common areas
Tulsa's charter says no property is exempt. That includes your common areas
2026-09-15 · Oklahoma · Regulation
A Tulsa association's common-area tracts, entry monuments, private-street parcels and detention lots are all “property of any kind in the city.” The charter says so, and it says it in one sentence with no exceptions.
1989 Amended Charter, Article XII, § 2, headed “All property subject to special assessment,” in full:
“No property of any kind in the city shall be exempt from any of the special taxes and assessments authorized by this amended Charter for local improvements.”1
And the Council decides whether it benefits you
Article IX, § 1.1, on street improvement districts: “When the Council shall deem it necessary to grade, pave, curb, gutter, drain, or otherwise improve any street, sidewalk, alley, or public right-of-way… for which a special tax is to be levied, the Council shall by resolution declare such work or improvement necessary to be done… The passage of a resolution shall be conclusive of the public necessity for the improvement and the benefit thereof.”
Conclusive. Not rebuttable.
Article IX, § 1.5 then provides that the Council “shall assess the remaining costs… against the property abutting upon the street, sidewalk, alley, or right-of-way upon which the improvements are to be constructed. The Council shall impose a lien against the property to secure the payment.”
There is no cap in the charter, no escalator limit, and no homeowners association carve-out anywhere in it.
Why this matters more than it sounds
Association members already pay assessments. A municipal special assessment is a second charge from a second body, on the same household, secured by a lien on the same property — and in the case of common-area tracts, on property the association owns and funds out of those same dues.
The improvement districts machinery exists across Oklahoma, though it is rarely on a board's radar. Bixby's Street Improvement Commission provisions at §§ 1-10-11 to 1-10-14 were amended by Ordinance 2526 on August 11, 2025. Jenks charges a fee for certification of special assessments at § 7-10-1. Lawton, Edmond, Midwest City, Yukon, Broken Arrow and Oklahoma City all carry their own.
The recurring charges that move without anyone noticing
Alongside one-off improvement assessments sit the rate schedules, and two of them moved inside the last two years in ways that land directly on association-owned parcels:
Edmond's stormwater rate schedule at § 23.30.030 was amended by Ordinance 4000, effective January 1, 2025. Every common-area parcel that drains carries that charge.
Tulsa's stormwater drainage service charge rate schedule was amended by Ordinance No. 25067 on June 11, 2025, and its residential solid waste rate structure by Ordinance No. 25068 the same day.
These are not glamorous, and they are exactly the kind of line item that quietly outgrows a budget adopted three years ago.
The new state-level mechanism, and how it stacks
From November 1, 2026, the BUILD Act gives every Oklahoma city and county a further instrument: a master development district whose board of supervisors may levy special assessments carrying a lien “equal to the lien of all state, county, and municipal taxes, including ad valorem, and senior to all other liens or encumbrances, including mortgage liens.”2 The district has “the same rights and powers over a master development district that the governing body of a city has over improvement districts.”
So a household in a new Oklahoma subdivision can face three parallel charges on one roof: ad valorem tax, a district assessment ranking alongside it and above the mortgage, and homeowners association dues whose lien ranks below the mortgage.
There is a reason to watch the ballot here too. If State Question 843 ever reaches voters and passes, ad valorem tax on owner-occupied homes phases out — and special assessments, which are not ad valorem taxes, become a far larger share of what a household actually pays. HOA dues would sit behind both.
What a board can do
Know what the association owns in fee, and what it is assessed. Many Oklahoma boards cannot say which common-area tracts are titled to the association, which are easements, and which were never conveyed at transition at all.
Watch for the resolution, not the bill. In Tulsa the Council's resolution is conclusive on necessity and benefit. The moment to be heard is when the district is proposed, not when the assessment arrives.
Put municipal charges in the budget as their own line. Stormwater fees, solid waste charges and any improvement-district instalment are municipal costs the association carries and the members fund. Burying them in “utilities” hides a charge that is rising independently of anything the board controls.
Ask about districts before buying in a new subdivision. Nothing in the BUILD Act requires an assessment to be disclosed to a resale purchaser, and Oklahoma's Residential Property Condition Disclosure Statement has no question for it.
What to watch next
The first master development districts formed after November 1, and whether any Oklahoma city adopts a policy on how district assessments and association dues coexist in the same subdivision. The statute does not say, which means it will be settled by whoever drafts the governing document first.
Related Oklahoma HOA Topics
Stay on top of Oklahoma HOA law
Every week: new Oklahoma legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.