The Centralia City Council approved an ordinance for an additional 0.5% non-home rule municipal sales tax at Monday night’s regular meeting. The added tax is projected to raise $929,000 in new revenues, which city manager Galen Mahle says will be necessary to meet increasing expenses, including for insurance, personnel, and essential equipment.
“We have a lot of equipment needs that we need to fulfill. We do have a new fire truck that needs to be purchased for the fire department, as we have some aging trucks,” Mahle said. “It is a union negotiation year, so we’re in negotiations with all five unions that have representation within the city. We know that there will be some increases in personnel expenses, as well as increases in everything across the board… When it comes to health insurance, liability insurance, and all of the things that the city has to pay to keep in operation and keep in compliance, all of those things are going up.”
Together with the 0.5% tax that went into effect at the start of this year, this will bring Centralia’s total non-home-rule municipal sales tax to 1%. The overall sales tax rate in Centralia in Marion County will be 8.5%. The Centralia sales tax rate is 7.25% in Clinton and Washington County, 8.25% in the Joliff Bridge Business District within Clinton County, and 7.75% in Jefferson County.
Both Mahle and council member Barri Allen said that raising revenue with a sales tax is preferable to a property tax because a sales tax distributes the tax burden across everyone making purchases in Centralia, including visitors from out of town, rather than solely on property owners in Centralia.
Council member Bunny Garrett gave the only “no” vote, saying she wanted to table the ordinance for a future meeting rather than pass it immediately.
In other business at Monday night’s meeting, a bid was approved from J.K. Trotter and Sons for $96,800 to conduct a lead service line inventory. The cost of this inventory will be almost entirely covered by a state grant, and the results will allow the city to apply for future grants to replace lead service lines.
The council approved ordinances to declare four pieces of real estate as surplus property and solicit bids for sale. The properties are 435 South Hickory, 1335 South Locust, 615 North Hickory, and 926 North Poplar. The properties will be listed for sale on the city website and in the newspaper.
Fire Department Lieutenant Andrew J. Sneddon was presented with a service award for 25 years of service.
