• BY DAVID TEWES - DTEWES@VICAD.COM
• Originally published November 8, 2009 at 11:27 p.m., updated November 9, 2009 at midnight

• 2010 Sales Tax Board budget.pdf

• WHAT DO THEY DO?

  The Sales Tax Development Corp. board is charged with selecting projects to be paid for with income from the half-cent sales tax.

  Voters approved the half-cent increase in November 1995, raising the total rate from 7.75 ...

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WHAT DO THEY DO?

The Sales Tax Development Corp. board is charged with selecting projects to be paid for with income from the half-cent sales tax.

Voters approved the half-cent increase in November 1995, raising the total rate from 7.75 to 8.25 percent.

Nearly $10 million in income from the half-cent sales tax will be spent on street, sidewalk and drainage projects in Victoria this year.

Lewis Neitsch, president of the sales tax board, said that's money that otherwise would have had to come from higher property taxes or increased water and sewer charges.

"I think it's money well spent, especially at this time with the economy," he said, noting project costs are coming in under estimates. "It's good for the economy and good for getting a lot of things done for a lesser price."

The Victoria Sales Tax Development Corp. has adopted a $14.08 million budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The total includes money allocated in the previous year and not yet spent.

Neitsch said the half-cent sales tax is expected to produce $6.7 million this year, and he's hopeful the economy won't cause problems.

"The only thing we have to watch out for is if the sales tax, which has been declining, continues that trend," he said. "We're depending on collecting that tax money when people buy things."

Income from the tax has been increasing about $500,000 a year for the past several years, he said. But the numbers so far this year are running about 3 percent behind the same period a year ago.

Public Works Director Lynn Short said the half-cent sales tax has been an important source of income for large city projects in the past and continues to play an important role.

Recent projects it has helped fund are the $9.9 million reconstruction of Laurent Street and the $42 million downtown utility replacement effort.

"The Sales Tax Development Board has been very instrumental in providing funding for large infrastructure replacement projects for a number years," he said. "It has enabled us to move forward with projects that otherwise would have been difficult to obtain funding for."

Neitsch said he'd like board members to keep their minds open in the future to non-traditional projects.

"I would like for our board to think independently and possibly come up with something that would benefit something other than the city," he said. "I don't have anything in mind right now."

But one example he cited might be something like constructing a building at the Lone Tree Business Park to lure industry.

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