Portland citizens to vote on sales tax referendum

In a recent political forum, aldermen candidates addressed the proposed sales tax referendum up for vote in the Nov. 8 election.

The referendum would establish a sales tax designating funds to the city’s public safety and infrastructure, more specifically the city’s roads and paving projects.

“Know that we need it, so if it’s set apart and it’s used for that thing to help pave, help construction… we need that,” alderman candidate LaToya Holcomb said.

If approved, the sales and use tax referendum would establish a uniform sales tax rate of 2.75 percent within the city of Portland, except where the sales tax rate is limited or modified by statute.

The 2.75 percent sales tax would unify the city that sits between Robertson and Sumner Counties, where Robertson County has already adopted a similar sales tax.

As asphalt prices continue to rise, both residents and city officials share concerns over the city’s ability to adequately fund future paving projects and look toward the tax referendum as one solution.

“I know tax is a dirty word, I’m conservative, I’m not for property tax increases don’t get me wrong but this is a different animal here with the sales tax referendum,” Alderman Drew Jennings said.

“It’s a dollar or two on the average grocery bill… and it’s someone that’s driving through that lives in Franklin, KY that’s working in Portland and stops at Food Lion to go (grocery shopping) before they go back to Franklin, KY and they’re paying it just like our citizens are, so that type of thing can make a really big impact where it’s not just raising property taxes on a citizen.”

Portland currently receives about $450,000 each year from the State Street Aid Fund and another $200,000 each year is pumped into paving from the city’s budget, Jennings said.

Though the city’s budget allocated toward public safety and paving could be expected to grow around $1 million should the tax referendum pass by majority vote next month.

“Last year alone the numbers would have produced $1 million that we could have put towards public safety and roads, so please do your research and vote through that tax referendum on the eighth because that is the perfect way to keep our streets paved,” Alderman Megann Thompson said.

“It is a half of one percent raise, 25 percent would go to police, 25 percent of it would go to the fire departments and 50 percent of it would go to the roads and that would all stay here," she said. "It’s our local sales tax option.”

The tax will apply to not only residents, but everyone that travels to Portland, Alderman Mike Hall said, echoing his support for the referendum.

Home to popular tourist events throughout the year in Middle Tennessee, the sales tax would collect funds from events such as the annual Strawberry Festival that sees thousands of people enter the city every year.

“It taxes all those people to pay for the improvements of the roads that they are helping to tear up,” Hall said, noting the amount of money the sales tax would collect is less than the cost of a bottle of water.

For more information on the upcoming election, visit votesumnertn.org.

Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com or (615) 517-1285.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Portland citizens to vote on sales tax referendum