KENT: Voters will decide in November whether to increase the city’s income tax from 2 percent to 2.25 percent to fund construction of a police department.
At a special council meeting Wednesday, council voted 6-2 to place the issue on the ballot.
The increase would raise about $1.3 million a year.
Ward 4 Councilman John Kuhar made a second attempt to amend the ballot language to end the tax after 30 years, the amount of time the city expects to take to pay off any new construction debt.
He proposed the sunset clause two weeks ago, but his motion failed for lack of a second.
This time the motion got a second and made it to a vote, allowing Kuhar to plead once again for an end date, but the amendment failed.
Kuhar joined Ward 1 Councilman Garret Ferrara in voting against the tax request.
Ferrara reiterated his opposition, saying that the city has no firm plan for a new building to present to voters and that the request is premature.
The ballot language will include a provision suggested by Ward 6 Councilwoman Tracy Wallach that once the police department is built and paid for, the police department fund can carry up to $1 million for building needs. Any revenue above that would then go toward streets and sidewalks.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.