UPDATE: Lincoln officials want quarter-cent sales tax for street repair, construction on April ballot

A group of community leaders said Wednesday that a quarter-cent sales tax is needed to “keep Lincoln strong and growing.” 

The group, which included Mayor Chris Beutler and City Councilman Roy Christensen, is asking the City Council to a measure on the April 9 primary ballot to raise the tax for a six-year period. 

“The funding will allow our transportation and utilities department to greatly accelerate it’s progress in fixing our streets and preserving the life of our street system,” Beutler said.

City officials said the tax would raise around $13 million a year, or $78 million over the duration. 

If approved, it would go into effect starting October 1. 

“The loss from traffic collisions is far greater than the loss from all crimes combined and many of those collisions are at least contributed to by the street network and it’s quality,” Director of Public Safety, Tom Casady said.

The measure will be formally introduced to the Council at its January 28 meeting, with a public hearing scheduled for February 4. 

Five council members would have to vote to put the tax on the ballot. 

Christensen said 25 percent of the funding would be reserved for new construction. 

“When you factor in cost sharing and the average Lincoln household, we would only spend $31 per year. That’s 47% less than if we provided this money through a wheel tax and it’s 73% less than if we put this on a property tax bond,” Christensen said.

The money would not be used for sidewalks, trails or traffic signals. 

Christensen said the money would not be bonded, so the city would not have debt or interest payments. 

The tax would cost the average Lincoln household about $31 a year, officials said.

To offset the impact of the sales tax on new homes and businesses, a separate resolution will be introduced to freeze impact fees at the December 31, 2018 rate for five years if voters approve the quarter-cent sales tax increase, Beutler said. 

Channel 8 Eyewitness News posted a story about the proposed tax increase on our social media and many people reacted negatively saying they already pay too much for wheel tax. The question was brought up in the press conference on Wednesday.

“Our impact fees are at a point where they are probably at the higher end of the range and we discussed what that would do to lot values and what that would do to new home buyers and the thought process really was the sales tax was the right way to go and that we do need more lots for our new home buyers, anything we can do to encourage that will help,” NEBCO, Bob Caldwell said.