VAN BUREN — Members of the Crawford County Quorum Court voted Monday to ask voters to continue a 1 percent countywide sales tax for eight years.
According to an ordinance passed during a special meeting Monday, voters will be called to the polls May 12 to decide whether to extend the tax expiration date from Sept. 30, 2015, to Sept. 30, 2023. The tax went into effect in 2007.
Twelve of the 13 Quorum Court members voted to pass both measures. Quorum Court member David Rofkahr was absent.
Last year, the tax generated almost $6.4 million, according to county treasurer figures. County Judge John Hall said 55 percent of the tax money collected was distributed to nine cities in the county, according to population.
Van Buren, the most populous city in Crawford County, received more than $2.3 million last year. The smallest, Rudy, got $6,276, according to the county’s figures.
County government received more than $2.8 million from the tax last year based on the population in the county’s unincorporated area.
The tax “is the lifeblood for county government,” Hall said.
If residents vote to continue the tax, 45 percent of the county’s share will continue to go to the Road Department, 40 percent to public safety and 15 percent for general county operations.
The Road Department’s tax share is spent on material and supplies, such as gravel and fuel, to improve and repair the 1,100 miles of county roads, Hall said.
The public-safety share is divided among the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Emergency Management, the coroner’s office, county juvenile officers and the county’s rural fire departments, Sheriff Ron Brown said.
He said if voters rejected the tax, it wouldn’t affect funding for the jail because he’s required by law to adequately fund it. But he would have to draw money from other uses in the department to pay for the jail.
The problem would possibly be compounded by the loss of tax money by cities in the county, which could force them to reduce their own services, such as police staff, and increase the Sheriff’s Office’s workload, he said.
The general county operations revenue keeps the doors of the courthouse open and providesmoney for county offices, Hall said.
Cities can use their shares of the tax for whatever they want, Hall said.