A committee of Scottsbluff citizens is encouraging the city’s voters to say ‘yes’ to the two proposition questions that will appear on the November ballot.
Prop One would renew and continue the city’s one-and-a-half cent sales tax that’s set to expire soon.
Renew the Two committee member Nate Merrigan explained the city relies heavily on the sales tax to provide a variety of services, and without it the impact would be significant.
“That would be a very dramatic effect on all of our tax burdens that would take place over the next few years,” said Merrigan. “But even then, as you project that out, or as the city has projected that out, there would still be less revenue available for the city to use, while at the same time nearly doubling our real estate taxes. And so we’d have a degradation of services.”
Prop Two, the city’s LB840 economic development plan, is also on the ballot, with the city asking voters to renew it to Oct. 2050, with authorization to continue funding the program with a portion of the city’s sales tax until Oct. 2035. While the extension of the development plan doesn’t have a sunset, the funding mechanism must be approved or re-authorized every ten years.
Merrigan explained that the program has a great track record with thousands of jobs through more than $20 million invested with new and expanding businesses. “It’s a jobs creation program. I mean, ultimately, that’s what it’s for. Businesses of, you know, a wide array of businesses can apply for funds, which come in the form of loans that can be refunded in the form of employment credits,” Merrigan said.
LB 840 funding comes from 1/6 of the city’s one-and-a-half cent sales tax, which is about $1.35 million every fiscal year.
