The deadline for a petition drive to investigate the city of Claremore’s finances over smart meter technology is this week.
The Tulsa World reported Shelly Taylor had until Thursday to obtain 986 registered voters to sign her petition calling for the investigation. She has claimed misappropriation and “possible irregularities” in the city budget.
Her petition request was approved April 4 by the Office of the State Auditor and Inspector which set a May 3 deadline.
Taylor launched the petition drive after complaining to city officials about delinquency payments of the $9.86 million contract with General Electric for smart electric and water meters was paid by residential customers.
“It’s going to look into why the city is charging us such high electric rates, the dependency on the electric revenue and their over-expenditure of the $9.3 million sales tax,” Taylor told the World. “There are special payout funds on the account that nobody knows exactly what they are that equal a couple million dollars a year.”
Claremore began installing the smart meters in 2014.