The Jefferson City Council missed an easy opportunity to gain trust and support for a new tax it wants voters to approve.
At last Monday's meeting, the council voted 9-1 to put a public safety tax on the ballot in November. If voters approve, the city would increase the city sales tax rate by a quarter-cent. That would raise an estimated $2.8 million annually.
But the council failed to put a sunset clause on the tax, meaning it would continue endlessly without the need for voters to reaffirm the tax.
That's unfortunate. A sunset provision gives voters a chance to assess how the tax money has been spent and reassess priorities in the future if needed.
Both the city and county's half-cent sales tax for capital improvements have such a sunset clause. Every five years, voters determine whether they want to renew the tax for another five years. That likely contributes to their overwhelming support.
At this past Tuesday's election, 79 percent of voters approved another five years of the county's half-cent sales tax. For a tax measure, such widespread approval is almost unheard of, but it's common for the city and county's half-cent sales taxes.
Some area residents have complained in the past about dedicated sales taxes that are ongoing with no sunset clauses, such as the city's parks tax or the state's constitutional tax of one-tenth-of-one-percent parks, soils and water sales tax.
So it's hard to understand why the council wouldn't include a sunset clause on the proposed public safety tax. What's even more perplexing is that, despite the fact that a sunset clause had been an issue previously, no members of the council brought it up when they sent the tax to the ballot. Not a single word of discussion.
Was there an informal agreement between council members beforehand that led to the decision? Or did no one on the council think it was an issue worth discussing?
Either way, it should have at least been discussed during that council meeting.
Perhaps this was a concern of Ward 4 council member Ron Fitzwater, the only council member who voted against putting the tax on the ballot. He said residents have unanswered questions about the tax.
" Other places have been burnt when we don't ask those questions up front," he said.
He's right. A sunset provision, or at least a more thorough discussion of one, could have gone a long way toward assuaging voters' concerns for a new tax.
News Tribune