SCOTT COUNTY WILL TRY AGAIN ON SALES TAX

Concerned about dwindling financial reserves, the Scott County Commission says it plans to resubmit a quarter-cent sales tax proposal to county voters.

After meeting Thursday to discuss Tuesday's overwhelming defeat of the proposal at the polls, commissioners indicated they might put the question to voters again in the fall.

Commissioner Dewaine Shaffer said he thinks the tax was defeated because voters didn't know what the $700,000 it would raise annually would be used for. That is true, since the commission didn't say specifically what the tax was for. Voters in Scott County or anywhere else are likely to tax themselves so that any government would have blanket use of that kind of money.

The commission says the next time voters will know what the money will go for and they might establish a sunshine provision for the tax. That is what it will take if there is any hope of Scott County getting the additional revenue.

With reserves hovering at $500,000, the threat of the county facing bankruptcy is real. The commission must convince voters of that fact if it wants to get Scott County back on a sound financial path.