City sales tax hike on ballot

Vandalia aldermen voted unanimously to put before city voters in November a request to increase the local sales tax by one-half of 1 percent.
But, before doing so, they agreed to change the way that revenue generated from such an increase would be used.
The proposal to increase the local sales tax was unveiled during the July 19 council meeting, with a vote to put it on the general election ballot scheduled during the special meeting on Monday.
During that one-week period, Mayor Rick Gottman said, the city hoped to get input from local business people and residents on the proposal.
Initially, the plan was to use additional revenue generated from the sales tax increase to fund the city’s obligations to the police pension fund.
But, that changed on Monday, after Aldermen Steve Barker proposed that half of the increase would go toward the police pension fund and half to city infrasture.
The sales tax money currently collected is used for infrastructure.
So, if the referendum would pass, three-fourths of the additional tax revenue would go toward infrastructure and one-fourth to the pension fund.
“It would make us better off when we come to (building) a new water plant,” Barker said.
Barker said that an increase in the sales tax is better than generating more revenue another way. “How many times have we raised the water bills?” Barker said.
Alderman Dorothy Crawford said she agrees with Barker on the need for funds to address the city’s infrastructure needs.
“We have water mains popping all over town,” Crawford said. “I don’t think we really have a choice.”
Gottman said during a hearing on the new city spending plan prior to the special meeting that the city is in dire need of a new water plant.
The current plant, he said, “is beyond its useful life,” commending water plant employees for providing water with aging facilities.
The cost of a new water plant, Gottman said, is estimated at $15 million-$25 million.
And, he said, “in 10 years or less,” the city is looking at having to build a new sewer plant, estimated to cost $15 million-$30 million.
At last week’s council meeting, Gottman said that Alderman B. John Clark has for several years proposed going for a sales tax increase.
At the July 19 meeting, Clark said that increasing the sales tax would help to prevent increases in property taxes. “That’s the only reason I brought it up,” he said.
Clark said he believes that the sales tax is a more fair tax, with people coming from out of town, including tourists, helping to generate funds through that tax.
“We’re not voting to increase the tax,” Barker said. “We’re putting it on the people, what they want,” he said.