Oklahoma's local governments collect a range of taxes, user charges and other revenue. These revenues allow Oklahomans to provide the funding needed to support a wide range of local services, ranging from schools to streets, water to hospitals. The table below shows how the various local governments collect their revenue. Please note revenues are for 2007, the most recent year available from the U.S. Census Bureau.
 

This section describes revenue patterns for Oklahoma's local governments.

• Counties collected $1.6 billion in 2007. User charges ($544 million) are the largest source of county revenues, mostly from county hospitals Intergovernmental revenue--mostly severance, fuel and other taxes shared by the state--are the next largest source ($485 million),. Property taxes generate $326 million,  but less than one out of five property tax dollars goes to counties. Sales taxes and miscellaneous revenues are also important to counties.
• Cities and towns towns (known collectively as municipalities) collected over $4.7 billion in 2007 revenues. More than half of all city revenues are user charges ($2.7 billion), including utility fees. Indeed, two-thirds of all local user charges are collected by cities. The largest sources of fees are hospitals, followed by water, electric, and sewerage charges. The sales tax is the second largest revenue source for Oklahoma cities, generating $1.4 billion.
• School districts relied on intergovernmental revenue for two-thirds of their $5.5 billion 2007 collections. This is a significant change from fifty years ago when property taxes made up most school revenue and there was no federal and little state funding for this service. Now state aid for education totals $3.3 billion. Federal aid helps most school districts as well. Property tax is the only other important school district revenue; nearly three-fourths of all property taxes paid by Oklahomans go to their local schools ($1.4 billion).
• Special districts, which operate water, housing, hospital, emergency medical and other services, collect just four percent of all local revenue, approximately $400 million annually User charges, mainly for rural water service, are the largest source. Intergovernmental revenue is the next largest source, mainly federal funding for local housing authorities. Some special districts collect small property taxes and some charge fees for housing and other services. 

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