Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson continued his series of educational presentations on the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Thursday, addressing a supportive crowd at the Perry Public Library.
“This isn’t something new, it is something everyone has been paying for many, many years,” Peterson noted. “It is a 1 percent tax on good and services, and it will expire on the last day of 2019. All the ballot issue is asking is that we continue it past that date.”
Peterson provided a long list of items which the city uses LOST funds for, noting that doing so helps the city stabilize the municipal debt service ceiling.
“We are talking about one penny on the dollar, or one dollar on a $100 purchase if you like,” he said. “And if West Des Moines passes it (LOST), as they are expected, it means all those purchases at Jordan Creek Mall will be added to the pool that is divided up (among cities in Dallas County who approve LOST).”
Ninety-six percent of Iowa cities collect the LOST tax. If it passes in all Dallas County cities and in the unincorporated part of the county, Perry’s portion of the collected revenues is estimated to increase from $1 million a year to about $1.4 million.
“When you look and see all we have done with local option funds, it is really amazing,” he said. “It is hard to imagine what it would be like if that money went away and, again, this is not a new tax — it is just continuing one everyone is already paying and which, to be honest, most people are probably unaware of.”
