Scott County seeks renewal of sales tax

When it came to passing the Scott County sales tax, Scott County presiding commissioner Jamie Burger said communication was key.

On the Scott County ballot for Tuesday's general municipal election, county residents will decide whether to renew that half-cent sales tax in exchange for no county-imposed property taxes.

"By extending the sales tax, it keeps the county portion [of property taxes] at zero. It will not change current tax obligations," Burger said.

Sales taxes are preferable to property taxes because "it's the fairest way; everyone can control their spending," he said.

Scott County Clerk Rita Milam said when this sales tax was approved for fiscal year 2008, it initially was for maintaining the Scott County Jail.

"It actually all started back whenever we built the jail. The people had voted in a half-cent sales tax for eight years for us to build the jail and pay it off," Milam said. "And then we asked them to just renew that again, and we asked them to do it for law enforcement, and they didn't approve it.

"Then we asked to ... put (the sales tax) into general revenue and we would make the [property] taxes zero. So we are just actually asking them now to let us continue that."

Lambert's Café is one of the largest means of collecting the sales tax, Burger said.

"Busloads and busloads come in to eat, so people just traveling through are paying our sales tax," he said.

Last year, the half-cent sales tax raised about $1.9 million, Milam said.

Property taxes imposed by cities or school districts are not affected by Tuesday's election and will continue. Before the sales tax was passed, Milam said, the county generated between $300,000 and $400,000 in property taxes.

"By voting 'yes,' we've guaranteed that voters' property taxes for the county will stay at zero. If sales tax stays in place, we can guarantee completely that county property taxes will not change," Burger said.

Milam said the general revenue budget for expenditures is estimated at about $5.2 million.

"It's just to run the county, basically," Milam said. "There's nothing special designated just for this money; it just goes into the budget to maintain what we're already doing ..."

Examples of what general revenue funds go toward are the 911 call center, law enforcement, courtroom security and maintaining county buildings.

If the tax isn't renewed, Burger said the county will explore other options to bring in money -- including levying property taxes.

"The biggest thing is that people know and realize it's a continuation of the current tax. If people paying the sales tax realize it's the same, and they are aware of it, people will be OK with it," he said.

"We just worked really hard to get the word out [last election]. We just plan to have conversations with people and answer a few more questions [before the election]."

smaue@semissourian.com

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