Ark City Plans Town Hall Meetings To Pitch Sales Tax For Hospital

(Information on the sales tax and planned town hall meetings was provided by the City of Ark City through a written news release.)

The City Commission of Arkansas City voted 4-0 on Tuesday night to approve a resolution of support for the upcoming Health Care Sales Tax special vote.

Mail-in ballots will be mailed to registered voters living within the city limits of Ark City starting in early August. They are due back by noon Sept. 6. If the proposed one-cent general sales tax is approved by voters, it would replace the two current sales taxes that benefit South Central Kansas Medical Center.

This would have the effect of reducing the current sales tax rate in Arkansas City from 9 percent to 8.5 percent, bringing Ark City more into line with the sales tax rates of many neighboring communities.

State law does not allow the proposed tax to have a sunset date, but as part of the resolution, the commissioners stated for the record that their intent is for it to be retired once hospital bonds are paid off.

“The Governing Body of the City of Arkansas City may take action to eliminate this sales tax when the original or refinanced Hospital Bonds are paid,” the resolution states. “It is the intent of the Governing Body to eliminate this … sales tax when the hospital’s bonds are paid.

“While this stated intent cannot bind a future Governing Body of the City of Arkansas City to require it to terminate the sales tax on a specific date, this provides guidance to those future elected officials as to the intent of the Governing Body and the citizens of the City of Arkansas City when they approved and supported this 1-percent sales tax election.”

City and hospital officials hope that approval of the Health Care Sales Tax, which would generate about $1.6 million annually to secure the remaining 20 years of debt payments, will provide the City with the opportunity to refinance the bonds to a lower average interest rate in 2019.

This potentially could save taxpayers $4 to $8 million in interest over the course of the remaining payments. But refinancing is not possible without approval of a tax that lasts for the life of the bonds.

A town hall meeting to discuss details of the sales tax proposal with the public will be held at 7 p.m. June 28 at the Senior Citizens Center, located at 320 South A St. Citizens will be able to ask questions.

This is the first of 10 consecutive town hall meetings that the commissioners, who also act as the SCKMC Board of Trustees, have planned. All of the meetings will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday nights.

A full schedule of town hall meeting sites throughout Ark City will be available at the first meeting.