The carefully crafted 3/4-cent sales tax proposal would pay for police and firefighter retirement system funding needs, and pay raises, but also a variety of community investments including neighborhood and parks projects.
That community portion of the tax would sunset after 10 years, while the retirement funding would be paid out as long as pension system members need it.
But on Monday night, more than a dozen local residents came to Council's meeting to urge councilmembers to make housing a more explicit part of the ballot language. After a long debate, Council rejected a housing language amendment in a 5-to-4 vote. Councilmembers Brandon Jenson, Monica Horton, Craig Hosmer and Heather Hardinger supported the amendment.
Alice Barber is a leader with Springfield Tenants Unite, a renters union formed during the pandemic.
She told Council, "I know how important it is to all of you that the tax we see on the ballot in November is one that the people of Springfield will actually vote for. I want to remind you who the people of Springfield really are: We are 60-percent renters. One in three of us lives near or below to the poverty line."
Barber and Springfield Tenants Unite have become increasingly vocal in recent times as the city struggles to address high rates of poverty and low-quality housing. Barber was also part of the 30-member commission that met this spring to draft the 3/4-cent sales tax proposal council currently has on the table.
This fall, if city voters end up approving the proposed tax, it wouldn’t raise Springfield residents’ tax burden. But it would replace a similar tax adopted by voters back in 2009 to address sharp shortfalls in funding for the police and firefighters’ retirement system.
The night featured debate among Council members that sometimes turned tense. After Councilman Matt Simpson said he would oppose a housing language amendment out of respect for all of the residents who participated in developing the city’s comprehensive plan, Forward SGF, and the residents who served on the Citizens Commission on Community Investment, which developed the proposal, Councilman Brandon Jenson responded: "...if you look at the folks who have spoken to us for months, it is clear that our current resources are not meeting the need.”
Jenson was the member who offered the housing language amendment that Council ultimately rejected.
With no amendments added Monday night, Council is set to vote on sending the sales tax proposal to city voters at its next meeting on August 5. Voters would have their say on the sales tax proposal at the general election set for November 5.
