Residents of Hillsboro, N.D., will go to the polls today to decide whether the city will continue to collect half of its current 2 percent city sales tax.
Polls are open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Main Street Community Center, 21 S. Main St., Hillsboro.
It's the second local election in recent weeks. Hillsboro School District voters on April 21 narrowly approved a $1.5 million Hillsboro Outdoor Sports Complex improvement project.
Currently, Hillsboro has a 2 percent city sales tax, which brings in about $300,000 to $320,000 annually.
Half of that tax is designated for debt retirement, while the other 1 percent has paid for the city's 50 percent share of building the now 12-year-old Hillsboro Events Center.
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Hillsboro School District used a 14-mill bond to finance the other half.
The HEC project debt will be retired next month.
Voters last month approved the school district's plan to levy 7 mills for the sports complex project, which would result in a tax reduction for school district property owners.
Hillsboro officials want to continue collecting the city sales tax, using the proceeds for continued debt retirement of city infrastructure projects or to keep a lid on local utility rates, according to City Commission President Mark Forseth.
"It wouldn't lower anybody's payments. It would just shorten the term we would have to pay them off," he said.
Hillsboro currently has about $8.5 million in debt, accumulated over the past few years as the result of major water and sewer infrastructure improvements, a street construction project and an underdeveloped private residential housing project that was returned to the city during the economic recession a few years ago, he said.
That debt currently is being paid through utility rates and assessments.
When the city sales tax originally was approved for the HEC project, 1 percent was bringing in about $90,000 annually to the city, Forseth said. Now, the annual revenue is $150,000 to $160,000.
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"What's nice about the sales tax is that it's not just local residents paying the bill," he said. "It's revenue that is collected from people outside of Hillsboro who are spending money in the city."
If the measure passes, the City Commission will decide annually how the sales tax revenue will be spent, Forseth said.
"The priority is what affects the most people," he said.
