With a one-cent sales tax hike, the City of Des Moines raised $38.1 million. | Pixabay
With a one-cent sales tax hike, the City of Des Moines raised $38.1 million. | Pixabay
Last year, the City of Des Moines instituted a one cent sales tax increase that raised $38.1 million, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said tax revenue will decline in the next year.
Tax revenue has fallen because the retail and travel industries have been hit hard by restrictions related to the coronavirus, the Times-Republican reported.
The City of Des Moines carried over $8.5 million in reserve funds from last year’s budget, which will help with the decline in revenue. In July 2019, a new sales tax went into effect and that income was to help the city work on projects that have been delayed because of a lack of funding.
A look at the budget shows that the city earmarked $5 million for street and sidewalk repairs, including 17 miles of neighborhood roads and 11 miles of major streets.
The city also plans to spend $1.1 million on buying out properties in floodplains and demolishing roughly 100 uninhabited structures in parts of the city.
Half the money from the new sales tax is being used to reduce the city’s property tax rate, the report stated.
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