By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph voters approved a 10-year extension to the 3.875% Use Tax.
St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter says the tax is vital to the city street program, particularly to the contract overlay program.
“Then it also ensures stability in the manner in which we handle Internet sales tax. So those are two key components that come out of the vote,” Carter tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “It was very positive to see the strong support for both those components.”
According to unofficial results from the Buchanan County Clerk’s office, 7,506 voters cast ballots in favor of the tax extension with 2,880 voting against it; a split of 72-to-28%.
Carter says city officials are very pleased with the margin of victory.
“We were uncertain going in what the vote totals would be, but it was really good to see the margin that existed there,” Carter says. “I think it probably reflects the importance of street maintenance and reflects the progress that we’ve made using these funds over the last 10 years.”
Carter says financial stability is important to the city budget.
“Having this in place for the next 10 years is going to ensure that we’ll have dedicated funds to street maintenance for the next decade and then also that we don’t have any significant swings in our other budget items as well.”
The Use Tax can generate up to $4 million a year, though Carter says the tax fluctuates depending on the size of construction projects undertaken in a given year.
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