Sales taxes are on ballots in Bel Aire and Valley Center

Voters in Bel Aire and Valley Center will decide whether to approve new sales taxes when they go to the polls in November.

Each city has proposed a 1 percent sales tax for street improvements.

Bel Aire’s ballot measure calls for the tax to pay for a general local street plan, while Valley Center’s specifies 10 street projects for its tax.

Bel Aire’s sales tax would start in January and run for 10 years. It would bring in an estimated $200,000 a year, said Ty Lasher, city manager.

The city borrowed $1 million this year for road improvements, and funds from the tax would help pay off that debt, he said. It would also help pay the city’s share – about $700,000 – of a project to widen 37th Street and it would help pay for other basic street maintenance work, he said.

If voters pass the tax, the city council would have to pass an ordinance to initiate it, Lasher said.

Bel Aire will hold town hall meetings in October to talk about the issue with residents, he said.

Valley Center’s sales tax would start in April and continue for 10 years, or until the 10 street projects have been paid for, whichever comes earlier, according to its ballot.

The projects are Fifth Street from the Wichita/Valley Center Floodway bridge to Broadway, Meridian from Ford to Seward and from Main to Fifth, 93rd Street from Seneca to Broadway, Emporia from Fifth Street approximately 1,500 feet north to the recreation facilities, Ash from Fifth Street to Main, Third Street from Sheridan to the railroad crossing and from Park to Meridian, Main from Meridian to Sheridan, Seward from Meridian to Seneca, and Ford from the Wichita/Valley Center Floodway bridge to Broadway.

Joel Pile, city administrator, said the tax would raise $3.5 million to $4 million. That wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of all the work, so the city would still need to request federal funds to complete the projects, he said.

The election is Nov. 4.

This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Sales taxes are on ballots in Bel Aire and Valley Center."