Kimmswick voters will have the opportunity to vote on two tax propositions, one to fund capital improvements and one concerning special events.
Proposition Capital Improvements
Kimmswick is asking voters to approve imposing a sales tax of half of one percent (0.5 percent) for the purpose of funding capital improvements, which may include the retirement of debt under previously authorized bonded indebtedness.
The proposition needs a simple majority to pass.
Kimmswick’s current sales tax rate is 8.85 per cent, with the municipality of Kimmswick taking 1.5 per cent.
Kimmswick Mayor Ken Kraft said he does not anticipate the tax increase will create a lot of annual revenue, maybe only a few thousand dollars per year.
“It won’t be much. The tax is only 0.5 percent. For example, on $100 purchase that would only be 50 cents, or on a $20 purchase that would only be an additional 10 cents,” Kraft said.
Kraft said if the tax is approved, it will go to the Road Fund.
“Right now, we already get 0.5 percent for the Road Fund, so it puts the city at an even 1 percent. We’re just doubling what we could get.”
Kraft said the city intends to use whatever additional revenue comes in to fix culverts in the city. They hope the culvert repair will help get water out of town faster after heavy rains, which will in turn make events safer and more enjoyable for attendees.
“I really think it’s for the benefit of the community,” Kraft said. “We just want it to be able to be as dry and safe as possible for everybody here.”
Kraft said city infrastructure is in need of updates.
“This town’s 150 years old, and it’s just always been repaired and updated from that point. It’s never been engineered and fixed. We went from gravel roads to asphalt overnight, pretty much. It’s trying to fix issues that just keep reoccurring over the years,” Kraft said.
Kraft said the city hopes to widen roads and add sidewalks once road repairs are made.
Proposition Special Events
Kimmswick is also asking voters to approve imposing a license tax of up to 10 percent on the gross receipts of any special event held within the city of Kimmswick for the purpose of funding operations of the city of Kimmswick.
The term “special event” shall include any temporary organized activity conducted within the city limits, whether hosted, sponsored or facilitated by the city or by any non-city individual, organization or entity, that includes the use of public property.
The proposition needs a simple majority to pass.
Kraft said Kimmswick looked at what other area towns were doing for events and tried to pick a tax amount they thought would be fair.
“If you go to other areas, it goes all the way up to 90 percent that the city keeps,” he said.
Kraft said the city plans to use the funds to be good hosts for events, which can include using resources at City Hall to make sure events go smoothly.
“For a little city, our city hall is busier than most large cities. There are cities with 20,000 people that don’t have as many people come through their door in six months as we do in just a couple of days, between the merchants, the regular people and then even people just visiting our town who just want to see our old historic city hall and ask a couple of questions,” Kraft said.
Kraft said funds also will be used for the grounds crew, which currently consists of just two workers, to be able to clean up after events and have the city right back to normal by the next day.
“That way the community doesn’t have to deal with trash lingering around or anything like that. We’re getting to the point where we’re getting so busy that we have back-to-back events, so we sometimes have something on Friday and Saturday, so we have to be able to get our turnaround time right back. We want the next person to be able to have it as nice as the first person did. We want to try and be able to keep the grounds looking as nice as possible for the very next day or the next event,” Kraft said.
He said he hopes the additional funds will allow the city to hire extra cleanup help for special events, if needed.
Kraft said the tax will not apply to every event that occurs in Kimmswick, just the ticketed events, such as Witches Night Out, Father’s Day Car Show and 5K events. It would not apply to free public events such as the Strawberry Festival or Apple Butter Festival.
Kraft said he was unsure of how much revenue would be generated from the tax because the city does not yet have many ticketed events, but that could change in the future.
