Lawton, Okla.-area voters approve tax hike for Goodyear project

LAWTON/FORT SILL, Okla. (March 14)—Voters in Comanche County, Okla., approved a sales tax increase March 12, completing a funding step for a modernization project at Goodyear´s Lawton/Fort Sill passenger tire plant. The five-year, quarter-cent tax hike—approved by more than 68 percent of the voters—is slated to generate $8.5 million for local economic development, $3 million of it earmarked for the Goodyear project. The new tax goes into effect June 1, and Goodyear will begin the $125 million first phase of modernization/expansion at the facility later this year, a company spokesman said. The Akron tire maker plans to commit about $250 million over the next four to five years for the modernization at the Lawton/Fort Sill plant, which would primarily include new tire building and curing equipment for producing tires in rim diameters of 17 inches and larger.