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Letter to the editor
Dear Editor:
As proud citizens of the city of Aurora, we, the undersigned, strongly support the effort of our city government to enact a 1.5 percent sales tax. We believe that this vote is a sincere effort by our city council and mayor to ensure the stability and economic health of our community now and in the years to come.
In order to better understand the issue, we asked city officials questions about this ballot initiative. The following are the summary of the facts that he (City Administrator Rick Melcher) presented to us about this sales tax issue.
• What Nebraska communities are not using sales tax?
The city of Aurora is the only community with a population over 1,200 that does not have a local sales tax.
• What are the sales tax funds in the resolution used for?
Sales tax funds are needed for a variety of city services and operations as indicated in the resolution. Please take the time to read this resolution.
• Explain the city plans to reduce property tax.
The city will not have to increase our current levy if the sales tax passes. Growth from economic development will be used in part to reduce property tax. Sales tax will be used to restore our reserve funds so that we will be able to react to emergencies and natural disasters without using property tax. Aurora has one of the lowest mill levies in the state due to using our reserves to maintain the current levy and protect citizens from higher property tax. Should the sales tax not pass, the property tax levy will need to increase in order to meet the expenses of city services and operations.
• How would sales tax be used, as the resolutions states, for economic development, including infrastructure?
The city’s financial participation in water, sewer, storm sewer, and paving infrastructure for subdivisions and industrial development would be enhanced by sales tax dollars.
• How would sales tax be used for recreation?
The aquatic center is a heavily utilized recreational activity. Although it has lost an average of $79,853.76 per year over the last nine years, still it is an activity we must have in a community our size. It is also used by many people outside the city and Hamilton County. We need to be able to increase our revenues just to keep up with the increase in expenditures. Sales tax would be a good source of funding for the aquatic center and other recreational facilities like the tennis and pickle ball courts, ball fields, trails, and soccer fields -- just to name a few. All need to be maintained and improved by the city.
• How would sales tax be used for public safety?
The responsibility for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is now in the hands of the city of Aurora. This is another large financial obligation for the city. Many who request medical assistance are not living within the city of Aurora. Advanced Life Support (ALS) transfer services are where the majority of revenue comes from. In order to take these transfers, we need paramedics with ALS certification. To keep our paramedics, we have to pay a comparable salary or we lose them to larger communities that can pay. The city needs to offer comparable salaries for police officers in order to retain our highly-trained, second-to-none public safety staff. A portion of the proposed sales tax will help fund salaries, emergency vehicles, equipment, and training for EMS, and the police department. This allows us to better protect our citizens.
• How would sales tax be used for civic and social activities?
The city will continue to support organizations like the Senior Center, Community Action Ryde, the Crisis Center (Willow Rising), Humane Society, Chamber of Commerce, the Child Advocacy Center and Central District Health Department.
• How do unused restricted funds authority (by statute) and restricted funds work? Property taxes and sales tax at the present time are both considered restricted funds. The unused restricted funds authority is currently $1,265,560.51. What this means is that the city has the authority to bring that much more restricted funds (property taxes). Therefore, the city of Aurora felt it was necessary to approve: Resolution 24-05 allowing the registered voters of the city of Aurora a chance to vote on whether they want our budget to include the use of a sales tax to help fund expenditures as listed in the resolution and at the same time reduce property tax. The only way to access these unused restricted funds is to increase the restricted funds. This would be an increase in property taxes. So we can either increase property taxes and use the unused authority, or we can add a sales tax.
• Additional clarification:
The city put an additional million dollars of budgeted restricted fund authority on the ballot because if the city receives (for example) $1,800,000 in sales tax, our current unused authority is only $1,265,560.51. If we don’t increase it, we would not be able to receive all the sales tax available. Therefore, we included an extra $1 million so that we would be sure to have enough authority to use all sales tax collected and provide more property tax relief.
We support the efforts of our community groups and foundations who have raised funds and built facilities for the betterment of Aurora. The Alice Farr Library, the tennis and pickle ball courts and many others are volunteer driven and financed. They have become great additions to our community. However, these facilities, when gifted to the city of Aurora, require upkeep and maintenance. The city is responsible for these expenses including insurance and liability coverage. No provision is made by the gifting group to pay for the continuing expenses. The sales tax will help to fulfill the obligations.
Furthermore, we believe that individuals from outside of Aurora who use our facilities should contribute their fair share in sales tax, just as Aurora citizens do when we shop in other communities and pay their sales tax.
Finally, we believe that by presenting these facts Aurora voters will be able to see the importance of the sales tax. We ask for your YES vote on the sales tax on Tuesday, May 14. We also ask for your continued support of our elected officials.
For additional factual information, please contact City Hall at 402-694-6992.
Signed, Dave Long, Mike Irons, Roberta Cool, Donita Friesen, Glen Beran, Deb Irons, Sharon Ousey, Bruce Ramsour, Jenny Friesen and Pat Leth
