These Columbia projects could be paid for through sales tax — if voters renew it
Columbia Public Works and the city's police and fire departments are looking ahead to the next decade of capital improvement projects.
A 1/4-cent capital improvement sales tax expires next December and a question on the Aug. 6 ballot will ask Columbia voters whether they want to extend it for another 10 years.
The Columbia City Council this week discussed proposed capital improvement projects that could make it on the final list for the ballot. First reading of the ballot initiative will happen at Monday's city council meeting. A vote finalizing the resolution of intent comes at the May 20 meeting.
City staff recommended against any changes to the taxing amount and to keep the measure as a tax extension as it did in the 2014-15 timeframe. Conversations on growing revenue can happen after the August ballot, City Manager De'Carlon Seewood said.
The reason for the 10 year timeframe is it gives relevant departments time to build the capital into project budgets, said Shane Creech, director of Public Works. Columbia is unique because it has 10-year sunsets on various capital improvement taxes, Nancy Thompson, city attorney expressed. Many other communities don't do sales tax sunsets, she added.
City staff whittled a project list of about 66 down to 18 using Federal Highway Safety Manual parameters for scoring projects. Project suggestions that will include new construction, including roundabouts or street widenings, generally are in areas expecting population growth, such as St. Charles Road, Richland Road and Sinclair Road. Total estimated funding needed for street and sidewalk improvements, major maintenance projects and other subcategory projects is roughly $86.3 million. This is about 75% of what the tax could collect. The remaining 25% of tax collection goes toward public safety capital improvement projects.
Some projects not on the street project or major maintenance list include those along Creasy Springs Drive and Old Hawthorne Drive, respectively. Following council discussion, Creech suggested the major maintenance projects could be lumped in with other subcategories, such as traffic safety or street reconstruction. That would give more flexibility in final project list creation, noting for any projects that get added, others will have to come off, just because of estimated project costs.
Even with city projects there are opportunities of cost sharing between the city, county, state and possibly even the school district, particularly on mid-block crosswalk projects near schools, Creech said.
Proposed police projects for the ballot measure include completing the second floor of the Molly Bowden Neighborhood Policing Center in the northern part of the city and a new facilities assessment to determine exactly what is needed by the department potentially leading to renovation or reconstruction of the downtown station. Total costs is estimated at $16 million.
The fire department is estimating needing $15.4 million over the next 10 years in support of fire station 10 construction and apparatus (fire truck) purchases as they reach the end of their usable life.
Once the council votes on ballot measure inclusion, it will be up to city staff to provide public education on how the tax revenue will be spent if approved by voters.
Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia council hopes to fund projects through sales tax extension
