SCOTT CITY WILL TRY AGAIN FOR STREET TAX

SCOTT CITY -- Just four months after Scott City voters defeated a half-cent sales tax increase to fund street repairs, they will again be asked to endorse it.

City Council members Wednesday unanimously agreed to hold a special election Aug. 6 on the tax measure. In April, the tax increase failed by 33 votes.

"It's out of necessity that we're asking (for the tax)," said Mayor Shirley Young. "We only hope people will realize the need for it."

At Wednesday's special meeting, City Councilman John Smith estimated that more than 20 of the city's streets need to be totally resurfaced. Many more are on a waiting list to be repaired, he said.

City officials say a tax is the only way the city can afford to fix its streets. Young said for the past several years, the city's budget has allowed for only $20,000 per year to be spent on street repairs.

As a result, the condition of city street has declined substantially, she said.

She said she feels the tax was defeated in April mainly because of low voter turnout and a misunderstanding among voters that money generated from the tax would be used for projects other than the streets.

"It needs to be clearly understood that this money will be used only for streets," she said.

In April, 316 people voted against the tax increase, while 284 voted in favor of it. Turnout for the election was about 22 percent.

If passed in August, the tax would go into effect in October, Young said. The increase in the sales tax would be in effect for five years.

The half-cent tax would bring the city's overall sales tax rate to 6.225 percent and would generate about $100,000 per year.

The tax is a transportation tax that would fund only contract labor costs to pave and resurface existing city streets. City Councilman John Rogers said the tax may have failed in April because some citizens were afraid the tax would pay for paving gravel roads at the city's Nash Road industrial site.

Rogers said the tax would not fund such projects, because it can be used only for streets that are already paved.

Young said the council is resubmitting the tax issue to voters this year because street work can't begin until after the city starts collecting the tax.

"If we wait until next year, it would be 1993 before any of the streets would be fixed," she said. "What kind of shape will they be in then? This is an attempt at long-range planning by the council."

Young said city officials will mount an "education campaign" to convince city residents that if they want their streets fixed, they'll have to support the tax.

The campaign will also be needed because the tax issue will be the only one on the August ballot, the mayor said. "We'll just have to get the people out," she said.

The increase in the sales tax will mean that for every $10 spent in the city, 5 cents will go toward street repair, she said.