Special Election’s Date Remains Undecided

Voters here may be asked to raise their utility taxes in June. Then again, they may not have to face that question until November.

The City Council asked the city clerk to begin the process this week to set a special election for June 3, but the council first confirmed that it may cancel that date and move the $35,000 election to November.

“We’re beginning to sound like Chicken Little,” Mayor Art Brown said of the election, which was originally scheduled for March. “The taxes are coming! The taxes are coming!”

Council members keep postponing the election date because they hope that the public will be more accepting of the need for increased revenue once cuts are made in popular civic programs.

The city cut its $38-million budget by $500,000 last year, eliminating several positions as well as a host of programs, but it still faces a $2-million deficit for the coming fiscal year.

The measure would raise gas and electric taxes from 3% to 5% and would impose a new 3% tax on telephone service.

City finance officers said that the city revenue has dropped over the years because of new programs mandated by the state and federal governments, a bigger share of local taxes being redirected to the state, a generally poor economy and other factors.

Two new members of the council, Steve Berry and Jack W. Mauller, who campaigned against raising taxes, have agreed to put the measure on the ballot.

Brown said that the cuts made this year will have to be substantial, and that projects such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, the popular police anti-drug programs, probably will be cut.