Chamber endorses police-fire pension sales tax renewal

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has issued its support for renewal of the city's police-fire pension sales tax.

Up for vote April 8, the ballot issue would renew the tax supporting pension funding for another five years.

The tax was approved by voters in November 2009 to shore up funding for the ailing police-fire pension fund, said to be underfunded by as much as $200 million at the time.

City Manager Greg Burris told Springfield Business Journal in January approval of the tax was a key reason the city emerged financially secure from the recession.

As of July 2013, the pension plan was 70 percent funded, according to information provided by the chamber.

If the tax is not renewed, the city would need to transfer an additional $9 million of general revenue annually to fund the plan, a move the chamber said would result in elimination of neighborhood police patrols and intermittent closure of some police and fire stations.