The Odessa Board of Aldermen voted to place two tax questions on the ballot for the General Municipal Election next April during its meeting on Monday.

The board first passed a bill placing a local use tax of 2.5 percent on the ballot. Odessa Mayor Bryan Barner says this tax would be applied to online purchases from out of state vendors.

Barner says the revenue generated from this tax will be used for transportation purposes, including street and sidewalk maintenance.

The board then decided to place a public safety sales tax of three-eighths of one percent on the ballot for April 2026 as well. The revenue from this tax would be used to construct a new police facility. A similar tax was placed on the ballot in August 2024 and rejected by Odessa voters. Barner says the city learned from that first failure, and put together a focus group to come up with a tax rate that voters would be more likely to approve.

Expenditures from this tax revenue will be subject to oversight by a citizen advisory committee established by the Board of Aldermen.

The election is set for Tuesday, April 7, 2026.