Centerville City Council wants voters to approve an income tax increase and plans a public meeting for tonight to discuss placing a 0.5 percent earned income tax levy on the Nov. 8 ballot.
City government officials — in a statement released last week — said the city has not sought an increase in real property or earned income tax since 1981.
Officials, in their statement, said “continuing steep state funding cuts and the desire to maintain quality police and city services has led Council to seriously consider this action.”
“Centerville will lose close to $3 million annually due to an 89 percent reduction in State funding from action taken by the State legislature,” city officials said in the statement, and “2017 is likely to bring more funding cuts of up to $1 million annually with the implementation of state legislature passed House Bill 5.”
The proposed increase would raise the city income tax rate from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent and would primarily affect people who work in the city, regardless of where they live. Council recognizes that many Centerville residents work outside the city and are already paying 2.25 percent or higher to another city.
Council does not want to reduce or eliminate the 100 percent earned income tax credit for those residents paying earned income tax elsewhere. Earned income taxes paid by a Centerville resident to another city do not fund Centerville or its services.
The tax increase would bring in an estimated $2 million to the city each year.
According to Mayor Brooks Compton, the city needs the tax increase to sustain its ability to continue delivering the quality Police, street and other City services that residents have come to expect.
“As a Council we will be asking our citizens to follow the fiscally responsible path and support Centerville and its outstanding services with approval of this modest tax increase,” Compton said. “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Tonight’s City Council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, 100 W. Spring Valley Road.
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