Put road sales-tax renewal on Platte County ballot
Platte County has smoother roads and safer bridges thanks to a sales tax approved in 2003. A decade later voters should get the chance to make that call again.
On Tuesday the three-member Platte County Commission will decide whether to place a 10-year extension of the three-eighths cent sales tax on the April 2 ballot. In interviews last week two commissioners — Beverlee Roper and Duane Soper — said they would do just that.
Good for them. Residents deserve the chance to retain the tax, which brings in $5.75 million a year.
The tax “has absolutely been good for the rural and urban parts of Platte County,” Roper said.
Soper, who served more than two decades on a county road district board, said the money was especially crucial to improving roads in the county’s growing northern sections.
The decision to place the tax on the ballot will upset some outspoken residents who think the tax burden has grown too high in the county. They also claim commissioners need to determine now how they will pay for needed improvements to the public safety radio system.
But Roper and Soper say that decision can be made in a couple of years. They properly don’t want to reduce the amount of money going for better roads.
The three-eighths cent tax expires this fall. Placing it on the April ballot will allow voters the chance to say whether they think the revenues have been well spent. A 10-year extension would be the right call.
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