Council Raises Tax To Benefit Pool

WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg City Council last Wednesday night voted to raise a tax levied when property in the city is sold to raise about $10,000 to help operate the city pool.

A public hearing was held last Wednesday be- fore the vote, but no citi- zens commented on the tax.

The tax is real estate excise tax that is typically paid by the seller when property in Waitsburg is sold. The rate of the tax was previously a quarter of one percent, or $2,500 on a $100,000 home and is paid with the closing costs on the property.

The council voted last Wednesday to raise the tax another quarter of a per- cent, bringing it up to one half of one percent. Now, those who sell real property within city limits will pay $5,000 on a $100,000 property.

The new tax was effec- tive upon its passage last Wednesday.

Proceeds from this tax will actually benefit the parks fund in the budget, said City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe. With this influx in parks money from the real estate excise tax increase, expected to be about $10,000 annually, this frees up general fund money to be shuffled to pool operations, Hinchliffe said.

The pool costs the city about $20,000 to operate each year, Hinchliffe said. With the extra $10,000, that would reduce the operating cost by half.

The Hevel Family has an endowment for the pool, but that money is only al- lowed to benefit swim les- sons and capital improve- ments.

"The pool year after year is a heavy drain on the gen- eral fun," Hinchliffe said.

With more of the pool cost covered by the shuf- fling of money in the bud- get, he said this frees up the city to move money that had been dedicated to the pool to law enforce- ment, City Hall and the fairgrounds.

"It helps stabilize the pool and keep things where they're at," Hinchliffe said.

The money generated from the tax does not have to be spent each year, but can sit in the city's bank ac- counts and grow.

He added the extra mon- ey may allow the city to fully fund Saturdays without donations in the future.

Most cities collect the quarter of a percent of real estate excise tax, Hinchliffe said. The rules of how the money could be used has changed recently to where it can now fund parks, he said.

"We're not in the minor- ity of (adding) the second (quarter of a percent)," he said.

Councilman KC Kuyk- endall, the only member of the council to vote no on the tax increase, asked Hinchliffe what the justifi- cation was for the increase. Kuykendall suggested ta- bling the vote on the tax increase to the next meet- ing to give more citizens the change to give their opinions.

" We're rushing it," Kuykendall said. "There's no reason why we couldn't have discussed it last month."

Councilman Scott Nettles said the real estate excise tax isn't collected every year and doesn't af- fect every citizen in town.

"I have to say I'm for it," Nettles said. "I can see the writing on the wall. We're going to have to cut some- where."

Hinchliffe replied "it's always a struggle - whether we want to fund the pool or pay for City Hall, police, the library or fire depart- ment."

Councilman Karl New- ell said he hasn't heard from anyone in town who believes the city should close the pool, so he believed increasing the tax was a good thing if it means the pool stays open.

The council voted, 4-1, to approve the tax increase. Kuykendall voted no.