By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph’s major tool to raise money for capital improvement projects comes up for renewal again.
St. Joseph voters decide today whether to extend the half-cent Capital Improvement Program sales tax for another five years.
City of St. Joseph spokeswoman Mary Robertson says the tax, which voters first approved in 1989, is the major source of funding for capital projects.
“So, it does gives us an infusion of about $7 million per year that we can use for public infrastructure: streets, public safety, recreational amenities, economic development; those large, major capital improvement projects that otherwise really have no funding source,” Robertson tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
A special committee submitted a list of proposed projects to be funded if St. Joseph voters renew the half-cent sales tax, including a new southside fire station, renovations to the St. Joseph Fire Department headquarters, upgrades to Patee Market, improvements to the Civic Arena, repair and renovation of the Missouri Theater complex, Cook Road improvements, Eastowne Business Park infrastructure, and more.
[Click HERE for more information about the CIP]
Robertson says this tax has a track record of success, because voters can see what the tax buys.
“Started in 1989 as a two-year, quarter-cent sales tax, (it) went over very well,” Robertson says. “It was voted again in 1992 as a five-year, half-cent sales tax. Obviously, with a five-year sunset, we’ve renewed it successfully every time since 1992.”
Only two issues are on the ballot in St. Joseph today, only one in Buchanan County. County voters will decide whether the county levies a three-percent tax on the sale of recreational marijuana.