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Voters to decide city sales tax
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: October 23, 2014

Valley Center voters will be asked next month to decide whether the city should implement a 1 percent sales tax to pay for major road improvements.

The Nov. 4 election ballot will have the yes-or-no question.

City officials have said the sales tax could alleviate the need to raise future property tax rates to fund such projects.

At least one of Valley Center's largest retailers said it could hurt his business. Others are hesitant to express their opinions in public.

"The last thing we need is something that will drive customers somewhere else," said Paul Eden, who owns Eden's Auto Sales. "I'm certainly not very excited about it. Some of this depends on what Wichita does as well. If they decline and we pass it, it's certainly not going to be a benefit to us."

Officials with Bartel's True Value and Leeker's Family Foods declined to comment on the upcoming election.

The Valley Center Chamber of Commerce board of directors has not discussed the issue, and the chamber rarely adopts a formal position on political issues, board president Carol VanLeeuwen said.

There have been no vocal opponents or proponents of the initiative.

City leaders developed the sales tax plan last summer, and six of the eight Valley Center City Council members voted to place the question on the November ballot.

Council members Al Hobson and Judith Leftoff spoke against placing the tax on the ballot. They said residents in their wards would not support a sales tax increase.

No council member spoke in support of the tax. Rather, several said the tax may be the lesser of two evils since the city could be forced to increase property taxes to pay for the big road projects.

If approved, the tax would start on April 1, 2015, and last for 10 years or until the 10 specified projects are complete, whichever is earlier. The 10 projects include:

•Fifth Street from the bridge over the Little Ditch to Broadway.

•Meridian from Ford (77th North) to Seward (69th).

•93rd North from Seneca to Broadway.

•Emporia from Fifth Street to about 1,500 feet north of the Valley Center Recreation Commission facilities.

•Ash from Fifth to Main.

•Third from Sheridan to the railroad crossing and from Park to Meridian.

•Main from Meridian to Sheridan.

•Seward (69th North) from Meridian to Seneca.

•Ford (77th North) from the bridge over the Little Ditch to Broadway.





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