ORD — The Ord City Council has voted to begin the effort of adding a sales tax increase question to the November election ballot to help pay for a new pool.
Essentially, the decision was between whether to go through sales or property taxes. The council decided the sales tax route was best for two reasons: members believed it was unfair to property owners to be asked to shoulder the load for a pool everyone uses and it could be tough to ask landowners to pay more after many just experienced a large valuation increase.
The tax would run for a maximum of ten years or until the pool is paid for. Currently, fundraising has netted $1,513,229. The tax suggestion was brought up at the December city council meeting. There, it was mentioned that about $1 million is still needed to finish the project.
Estimates have a theoretical 0.5% sales tax increase paying off the pool within eight years, but that’s just a projection and not necessarily the number that would appear on the November ballot.
The city will have to partner with another entity that has the power to tax for this effort. It hopes to find that group within the next couple of weeks.
