By Ashley Ball
News 3 On Your Side
Columbus City Councilors now know exactly how a proposed Local Option Sales Tax would be spent. A vote on the resolution was delayed a month ago to give councilors more time.News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!Tonight's resolution calls for 70% of that money to go to Public Safety. It would help hire 100 new officers for Columbus Police and 78 new employees in the Sheriffs Department.
The remaining 30% of the money generated would go to roads and infrastructure. Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member Evelyn Turner Pugh originally called for a hold on the resolution.
She says, “To do a resolution you need to know what you are voting on, when then original resolution came it was just the 70- 30 split and we had not had the detail as to what was going in 70 and 30.”
Details that were explained in a presentation from the Mayor's Office.
In October two SPLOSTS or special option sales taxes will expire, dropping the current sales tax to 5%. If this lost passes you will be paying 6% on your purchases. Voters will decide on July 15th.
The Mayor will hold three public hearings for the public to weigh in exactly the money will be spent.
The first will be on May 19th at Forrest Road Elementary.
The second on May 20th at Blanchard Elementary, and the final meeting will be May 22nd at Baker Middle School.
All meetings will start at 6 pm.
