TAX VOTE: SCOTT CITY GOES TO POLLS FOR STREET PROJECT ISSUE

SCOTT CITY -- Cracks, bumps, cave-ins and potholes.

Scott City voters on Tuesday will decide if they want to fix these nuisances on their city streets by enacting a half-cent sales tax to fund street repairs and improvements.

Polls will open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voters from all four wards will vote at City Hall in the special, single-issue election.

Not since 1984 has there been a major effort to repair damaged streets in the town, said Mayor Shirley Young. The tax, which will generate about $100,000 per year for five years, will go a long way toward fixing damaged streets, she said.

"It's going to virtually affect every street in town over the next five years," Young said. "The ones that are badly damaged will be repaired and the ones that are in good condition will be sealed to prolong their life."

Since the city lost federal revenue sharing in the early 1980s, there has been little money in the budget to pay for street repairs, the mayor said. As a result, there has been little street work since that time.

"Water and traffic are the natural enemies of streets. Eventually they break down," she said. "And when revenues do not keep up with the cost of operating a city, you have to ask for help."

The tax is a transportation tax that can be used only for contract labor and material costs. If approved by voters on Tuesday, it will go into effect in October. The measure would bring the overall sales tax rate in the city to 6.225 percent.

After five years, the tax would expire. Voters would have to approve an extension for the tax to stay on the books.

The Scott City Council proposed a sales tax increase, Young said, because a sales tax affects all who drive on city streets, not just property owners.

"A sales tax is a fair way to tax, especially for this type of thing," Young said. "Property owners are tired of being the only ones who are taxed. We have a lot of renters and transients who come into town to make purchases, and they're using the streets, too."

If the tax is approved, the mayor said the city would begin collecting the tax in October. The money would be set aside to be used for street work, which could begin next September.

Street work would be put up for bids by outside companies instead of completed by city employees, so other work would not have to be postponed, she said.

Young said the city would establish a separate fund for street tax revenues, and make public the balance of that account at least once a month at City Council meetings.

"People will be able to see the funds build up," she said. "At the end of five years, they will be able to see major improvements."

In April, voters defeated the street tax by 33 votes. City officials blamed a meager turnout (22 percent) and a mistaken belief that the tax would fund other city projects for the defeat.

The street tax passed only in Ward One. Overall, 316 people voted against the tax and 284 voted for it.

In June, council members decided to ask voters again to endorse the tax.

Young said she feels more citizens are aware now of the need for street repairs.

"I've heard some positive things, but there are always people against things like this," she said. "I'd like everyone to vote, whether it's for or against, because I don't think a 22 percent turnout (in April) was representative of the entire city."