By WHITNEE ICE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Joseph City Council voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of a half cent-sales tax.
A bill sponsored by Mayor Bill McMurray and council member Madison Davis was proposed to the council last week and was taken to a vote at City Hall Wednesday afternoon.
The half-cent sales tax for the St. Joseph park system will be up for a vote this August.
Council member Madison Davis says the city council made the decision to invest in the city and park system.
“What we’ve done today is decided to put on the ballot in August a half-cent sales tax increase that would provide funding for the sole purpose of maintaining our parks projects and improving our parks system,” Davis tells St. Joseph Post.
Davis says this tax will revitalize the park system to what it used to be.
“Some parks don’t have restrooms that operate so we’re going to take things like that and make it useable again and sometimes at a downtrodden state and make it something that’s viable and everybody can appreciate,” says Davis.
Council member Kent O’Dell says St. Joseph’s parkway system is 26 miles long, which is unheard of in a town this size.
“With 26 miles of parkway just the simple maintenance, just trying to keep up with cutting the grass is a task,” says O’Dell. “Then on top of everything what all other parkways and parks have is the maintenance of everything else that’s involved with it.”
The tax will have a 10-year sunset clause and over that 10-year period, it will generate 50-60 million dollars.