By Loyd McIntosh, For The Tribune
CENTER POINT — After an ad valorem tax initiative failed to pass earlier this week, Center Point Mayor Bobby Scott said city leadership is confident they can find alternate ways to fund public safety and debris removal projects.
“We’re a little disappointed that it didn’t pass, but that’s the process
of democracy,” Scott said. “We’re going to look for other ways to fund these programs and turn our attention to the public safety side of things.”
Center Point residents soundly voted against a proposed ad valorem property tax increase from .005% to .012% in a special election held Tuesday, Oct. 11. According to a post on Center Point’s Facebook page, 595 votes were cast, with 398 (66.89%) voting against the measure and only 197 (33.11%) voting in favor of the ad valorem tax increase.
“As an elected official, I believe it’s important to offer our residents the best possible resources to improve their quality of life. Those resources primarily consist of health and safety programs,” Scott said in a statement released after the special election. “The way we fund those resources is through various taxes we collect to run the city. Any attempts to increase that revenue are solely done with the intent to help the residents more efficiently.”
Scott said he believes many Center Point residents voted against the plan because they overestimated how much more they would have to pay in property tax.
“I think the main issue was a misunderstanding of how the taxes were calculated,” he said. “For a home valued at $150,000 it would only have been an additional $120 per year.”
Scott and the Center Point City Council hoped to fund a new department tasked with debris and brush pickup — a significant point of concern among city residents — as well as address police presence in the city.
Earlier this year, Waste Removal, Inc. abruptly discontinued offering brush and debris pickup in Center Point, leaving the city government in a tough spot. The expected money from the ad valorem tax increase would have been used to fund a new department focused at a cost of approximately $600,000 per year.
With the initiative defeated, Scott said the city is already looking at alternative ways to fund these initiatives and has begun talks with other waste removal businesses to help with brush and debris removal, which, Scott says, has been taxing on the city’s finances.
“After the fact, we have had some contact with a couple of companies that believe they can do the work at a more reasonable cost,” Scott said. “We have been burning through funding, and the companies we’ve been talking to feel they can do it at a more reasonable rate.”
Scott said he and the council are also exploring creative ways to gain a greater police presence in the city. Center Point is currently in negotiations with Jefferson County Sherrif Mark Pettway on a contract that would continue to provide deputies in the city. Scott said city leaders now may look at a hybrid plan, removing a couple of deputies while investing in one or two city-owned police cars and hiring a small number of police officers.
“We’re hoping to get cars from the state bid and release one or two deputies,” Scott said. “In the end, we believe this will just be a transfer of funds rather than require new funding.”