Byrnes Mill residents will be asked to approve a 1-cent sales tax increase in April.
Members of the Byrnes Mill Board of Alderpersons voted 6-0 Jan. 8 to place the 1-percent sales tax increase on the April 7 ballot.
The city currently has a 1 1/2-cent sales tax.
The ballot measure, called Proposition Safety, needs a simple majority to pass.
City Administrator Debbie LaVenture said the proposition would generate approximately $200,000 a year.
City officials said revenue from the proposed sales tax increase would be used to improve safety by beefing up the Byrnes Mill Police and Public Works departments.
“Our primary focus is police, but there are other pieces of safety,” Mayor Rob Kiczenski said.
He said some of the funds generated by the sales tax increase would go to increase police officer pay and to hire additional police officers.
Some of the revenue also would be used to hire another Public Works employee and to change the code enforcement officer position from part time to full time, Kiczenski said.
The city currently has six full-time police officers, three part-time officers and two unpaid reserve officers, Byrnes Mill deputy city clerk Ashley Jennewein said.
She said the Public Works Department has two full-time employees paid by the city and another employee who works at the recycling center and is paid through a grant.
Kiczenski said a committee of residents is being formed to campaign for the tax increase.
He said Byrnes Mill resident Jim McBroom, a former alderperson, will be the treasurer for the committee. He said the committee does not yet have a name, but will hold meetings and raises funds to promote Prop S.
McBroom said he was on the Board of Alderperson for nine years and remembers how hard it was to attract and retain officers for the Byrnes Mill Police Department.
“I think our police are grossly underpaid,” he said.
The starting pay for a Byrnes Mill Police officer is $37,674 a year, and the starting pay for a Sheriff’s Office deputy is $50,300 annually.
Kiczenski said he also would like to see the city increase police officer pay so it is competitive with the pay at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and other local police departments.
McBroom said his goal for the citizens committee is to “get the word out” about Prop S.
He said any resident interested in joining the group may call him at 314-623-9919.
LaVenture said Ward 3 Alderperson Mary Scheble proposed asking for the tax increase.
In April 2017, the city asked voters to approve a 40-cent property tax levy increase for the Police Department, and the measure failed with 206 “yes” votes and 350 “no” votes.
The measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass.