Work is underway by the Sales Tax Committee to recommend a direction for the use of El Dorado’s One-Cent Sales Tax in the future. They will also create a question for continuing the tax, which will be on the November General Election ballot.
After looking at several options and reviewing the survey completed by citizens on the tax, the Committee was in favor of making the sales tax continuous, rather than having it up for renewal every five years as it is currently. This doesn’t mean it couldn’t be modified in the future. A continuous sales tax could still be changed in the same manner as it is now, by having a question placed on the ballot.
Another option being considered by the Committee is to change the sales tax formula to a percentage-based system, rather than a set dollar amount for each of the categories, including property tax reduction, street rehabilitation and economic development. An example of this would be property tax reduction would be set at $1.65 million or 50 percent of sales tax proceeds, whichever was greater. This would allow those funds to receive a larger share of the tax collected when proceeds increased, but it would make sure they did not drop below their current level. The Committee will further discuss this at their next meeting.
The Committee consists of Craig Hamilton, David Sundgren, Lori Gioso, John Steinbacher, Ross Stumpf, Matt Jacobs, Brett Remsberg, Edward Wilson and Scott Leason. To learn more about the sales tax and the process to renew it, please visit www.eldoks.com/salestax.
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for May 8 at 6:00 p.m.