Mayor says local option tax 'vitally important' to Mt. Pleasant

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

?If the local option sales tax doesn?t pass, it will put a lot more pressure on property tax,? warned Mt. Pleasant Mayor Steve Brimhall Wednesday, seizing the opportunity at the final city council meeting before the May 5 vote to urge residents to approve the tax.

Mt. Pleasant has had the local option sales tax for 20 years and receives about $800,000 annually from the tax. The tax, however, ends on Dec. 31, 2015, and a vote to extend it without a sunset clause failed in November of 2014.

The tax also failed in New London (which also will have an election on May 5 to extend it), Olds and Coppock. It passed in the remaining county municipalities and the rural area.

Mt. Pleasant will use its option tax revenue only for capital projects, which has been the case the past 10 years. A major portion of revenue from the first 10 years of the tax went to build the aquatic center. Some of the projects used with sales tax revenue from 2005-2015 include the Washington Street and Grand Avenue street reconstruction.

?We have to spend $2M for capital projects a year to remain caught up,? Brimhall remarked, ?and in the last 10 years, we have spent $25M for capital projects.

?If the option tax doesn?t pass, we can?t do the projects we have in mind,? he continued. ?You will see a lot more street projects in Mt. Pleasant if this passes.?

Brimhall said there are four funding sources for capital projects, including federal and state grants, property tax, the local option sales tax and road use tax.

Elaborating, he noted that the city is spending about $1 million a year in property tax for capital projects and said the road use tax funds the salaries and equipment needs of the public works department.

The mayor also noted that with the tax Mt. Pleasant prospers from visitors. ?This tax not only is paid for by local citizens, but tourists and visitors to Mt. Pleasant. These people are helping fund our infrastructure.?

There has been some concern expressed over the lack of a sunset clause in the local option sales tax referendum language. Brimhall said that when the governing agencies (city councils and county supervisors) set it up, they decided not to have a sunset clause. ?We can?t go against the other government entities (the sunset clause or lack of one has to be identical for all governments receiving funds from the tax),? he said, adding that citizens would still have the option of petitioning to repeal the tax.

A simple majority is needed for passage of the tax. City officials said 92 percent of Iowa?s municipalities have the tax.

?This is vitally important to the City of Mt. Pleasant,? Brimhall emphasized.