Stan Geiger

Endowments for Infrastructure? Why Not?

A big money-generator for universities is the endowment. Donated money is gathered together and invested. The income derived from the investments is spent by the universities.

My question: If we can do that for universities, why can't we do that for streets, highways and bridges?

Tulsa streets are in a bad way. There is much talk of tax increases to fix them. But what if we had money coming in for streets that wasn't coming from taxes? What if we created a trust fund that would generate investment income that could be spent on streets?

A billion-dollar endowment coming back at 5 percent annually would provide $50 million per year in investment income that could be spent on infrastructure. And that would be $50 million per year that wouldn't have to be raised by taxing the populace.

Could we put together a billion-dollar endowment for Tulsa's infrastructure? Sure. It might take a few years, but putting the money together should be no problem.

George Kaiser just gave $50 million to OU. Boone Pickens just gave $100 million to OSU. Tulsa's rich folks, in concert, were pledging over $100 million for river development---contingent upon the passage of a tax increase that failed when brought to a vote. There is plenty of money in the hands of the wealthy that could go to capitalizing an infrastructure endowment.

Average folks could help. If you could get $100, on average, from 100,000 households, $10 million would be raised. Hey, coughing up a hundred bucks once beats the hell out of paying taxes for life.

Maybe it's time to step outside the box. Maybe government should look to fund itself by investing in private enterprise rather than taxing it. What say you?

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