City Beat: Council declines measure to refer to housing in tax ballot language

Brandon Jenson: Amendment to tax ordinance would clarify that housing initiatives would be eligible for funding.

Matthew Simpson: Forward SGF, which would guide tax use, already makes housing a priority.

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Proposed ballot language for new three-quarter-cent tax: “Shall the City of Springfield, Missouri enact a city sales tax at the rate of three-quarters of one percent (3/4-cent), one-quarter for the purpose of funding public safety initiatives, to include funding the remaining obligation of the Springfield Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Pension and increasing police officer and firefighter pay, with said one-quarter to not sunset, and two-quarters for the purpose of funding projects consistent with the City’s comprehensive plan, to include capital improvements, community and neighborhood initiatives, and park projects, with said two-quarters to sunset after a period of ten years? (Note: there will be no increase in the current sales tax level if the 3/4-cent sales tax is approved.)”

Springfield City Council held a public hearing on a plan to seek replacement of a three-quarter-cent city sales tax at its meeting July 22 and received input from a dozen community members who implored council to include housing in the ballot language.

Instead of adding the word “housing” to the measure that, if approved, would go before voters in November, council members stuck with language recommended by its Citizens’ Commission on Community Investment.

Had the addition been approved, the measure’s language would have highlighted housing initiatives as an option for use of the funding.

The CCCI was charged with coming up with a plan for whether and how to replace a three-quarter-cent tax that has been used since its original passage in 2009 to support the city’s Police and Fire Pension Fund and now would be able to fund additional initiatives.

The present tax, which provides some $45 million in annual funding, sunsets on March 31, 2025.

Council is scheduled to vote on the tax on Aug. 5.

The CCCI recommendation is for voters to be asked in the Nov. 5 general election to pass a new three-quarter-cent tax, with one-quarter of a cent to continue to go toward the pension fund – now 91% funded – along with other safety initiatives, including police officer and firefighter pay. The other two-quarters of a cent would fund projects that are consistent with the city’s Forward SGF comprehensive plan, to include capital improvements, community and neighborhood initiatives, and park projects.

The one-quarter-cent tax would never sunset, and the other two-quarters would be assessed for a decade.

Speakers who asked for housing to be included in the funding plan were members of Springfield Tenants Unite, a tenants’ rights organization that frequently advocates for housing initiatives in front of council, and other local housing advocates. They contended that housing is a key priority of Forward SGF and is an area of great need in the community.

Among the other community members asking for housing to be included in the measure were Aaron Schekorra, executive director of The GLO Center, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization; Michelle Garand, vice president for affordable housing and homeless prevention for Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc.; David Derossett, a sociologist and a leader of the Springfield-Ozarks Chapter of Missouri Jobs with Justice; Isabelle Jimenez Walker, commissioner on the city’s Public Housing Authority Board; and Katie Anderson, executive director of the Housing Authority of Springfield.

Councilmember Brandon Jenson offered a compromise in the form of an amendment.

Though the speakers were united in asking for housing to be included in ballot language, Jenson’s amendment suggestion would not have changed the ballot language. Rather, it would have offered definitional clarity in the accompanying ordinance, clearly outlining the eligibility of funding for housing and code enforcement activities.

Jenson pointed out that housing and enhanced code enforcement are both eligible activities for funding under the ballot language as it is written.

“I do think it’s important to note that this amendment offers definitional clarity only and does not make any modifications to the ballot language itself or to the list of evaluation criteria, out of respect for the work that the Citizens’ Commission on Community Investment did and the official report and set of recommendations that they provided to us,” Jenson said.

Similar definitional language – about public safety – was already added by council in its preparation to vote on the ordinance, Jenson said.

Jenson’s amendment would have added this sentence: “For the purposes of this tax, the term ‘community and neighborhood initiatives’ shall be construed to include but not be limited to housing and code enforcement.”

The amendment, which was seconded by Councilmember Monica Horton, failed by a 5-4 vote. Jenson, Horton, Craig Hosmer and Heather Hardinger voted in favor.

Prior to the vote, Hosmer expressed his strong support of the amendment.

“When we look at the poor neighborhoods in this city, we have high instances of fires, we have high instances of crime and we have low homeownership,” he said. “We talk about quality of place. Good neighborhoods, good housing stock, people living in housing that is habitable and safe – that is quality of place.”

Hosmer said he has been on council for 12 years, and in that time, council has done a lot of talking about housing.

“If we want to deal with these chronic problems, this is what we have to do: We have to put our money where our priorities are,” he said.

Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Simpson spoke against the inclusion of a direct reference to housing in the ordinance, instead deferring to the language provided by unanimous consensus of the CCCI. He said Forward SGF is a document that reflects community priorities, and it includes housing.

“I think it was very wise of the Citizens’ Commission – I think that’s reflected in the unanimous consensus – to reference Forward SGF as the guiding point for the citizen recommendations on what projects and investments that we should put money in with this half-cent moving forward,” Simpson said.

In their arguments prior to the vote for including housing in the measure, members of  Springfield Tenants Unite reiterated that securing votes from the roughly 60% of the community that rents instead of owns housing will be important.

“We are a city of renters; we are a city of poor and working-class people,” said Alice Barber, a leader of STUN. “We, the poor and working-class renters in Springfield, will be the ones paying the tax. So, it’s up to you to show us that it’s worth it.”

Other action items

• A rezoning was approved for .7 acres at 1400 W. Walnut St. at the request of First General Baptist Church of Springfield. The shift to an office district from single family residential will allow the church to provide office space on the property.
• Council also rezoned .7 acres at 1102-1120 E. Cherokee St. to medium-density multifamily residential with a conditional overlay from single family residential. Developer One Hundred Two Glenstone Inc. plans to build a multifamily development on the site.
• An appropriation of $3.5 million from the city’s Clean Water Fund was approved for the design phase of the Environmental Services operations facility capital improvement project.
• Council accepted $355,200 from the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission to fund the design of an extension of the Fassnight Greenway trail near Bennett Street.
• A cost-sharing agreement was approved with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for new sidewalks on East Sunshine Street. The $939,000 project cost will come from $626,000 in federal Transportation Alternative Program grant funds, $125,200 in federal Surface Transportation Block Grant funds and $187,800 from the city’s quarter-cent capital improvement sales tax.
• A short-term rental was approved at 413 E. Seminole St. by an 8-1 vote with Hosmer casting the dissenting vote.
• Council accepted $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from Greene County for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department’s Family Connects Program, which serves parents of newborns.