Council approves sales tax ballot item

Springfield voters will decide the fate of a 1-cent sales tax increase that city officials say is necessary to sustain the ailing Police and Fire Pension Plan.

Springfield City Council unanimously approved a ballot issue at its Monday meeting that will ask voters for the tax on the Feb. 4 ballot to meet the $194 million shortfall in the pension plan. If approved, the tax would sunset after five years or when the pension plan reaches full funding, whichever comes first.

Both the Springfield Police Officers Association and Firefighters Union Local 152 endorsed the plan.

Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky said during the meeting that current economic conditions make it difficult to ask for additional money, but she made an impassioned plea to voters to approve the new tax. She reiterated that each day the pension plan remains underfunded, the city's obligation grows by $33,000.

"Nobody in their right mind wants to go to the public and say, 'We need a sales tax, so how about forking it up?'" Rushefsky said. "Unfortunately, we have no choice. We've done everything we can reasonably do to make the pension plan work. The only way it's going to survive is if we have this sales tax."

City Manager Greg Burris has said that in addition to the sales tax, his plan to fix the pension plan also calls for increased contributions by both the city and police officers and firefighters, as well as a contribution of at least $10 million from an expected court settlement with several telecommunications companies.

See SBJ's Dec. 1 issue for more Springfield City Council news.