By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostBuchanan County voters have a rare opportunity today:&nbsp; they can vote to end a tax.The Buchanan County Commission has placed a question on the
ballot today that would end a quarter-cent capital improvement sales tax.Presiding County Commissioner Lee Sawyer says the tax has
already generated the nearly $11 million needed for the south St. Joseph levee
project and the county promised it would remove the tax if it hit that amount.“That’s what happened, which is a good situation. It hit early,”
Sawyer tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, in order to remove a
capital improvement tax, it needs to go back in front of the voters.”The tax is slated to end at the end of this year, but since it
has raised the necessary funds, it can be removed early.The money will be used to meet the local match on the $70 million
levee which protects southern St. Joseph’s industrial area as well as Rosecrans
Memorial Airport.Sawyer expects the project to be concluded by mid to late
2022.“Assuming there’s no sort catches or whatever, I think that should
be pretty achievable,” Sawyer says. “We’ve continued to make good progress. The
whole area that’s down by the Stockyards Expressway and down there is pretty
much finished. That’s exciting, because that really helps those businesses down
there to be protected.”Sawyer says the project has run into a few snags, mainly with
the railroads on using a mechanical devise, often called a swing gate, which
would allow a section near the levee to be cut off and protected from flooding quicker
than using sandbags or other emergency efforts. Sawyer expects the issues to be
resolved.

Elimination of a tax is on the ballot today