Citizen committee will develop street list for proposed new sales tax

ALAMOSA — Alamosa residents still have time to apply for the citizen committee that will help prioritize city street projects to be funded by a proposed half-cent sales tax.

Alamosa city council plans to ask voters this November to approve a half-cent sales tax, to expire in 10 years, specifically for street work. The funds would be placed in a street trust fund.

A half-cent sales tax would generate about $1.3 million additional each year for street projects. If approved, the new tax would take effect January 1, 2020. It would increase Alamosa’s city tax from 3.2 percent to 3.7 percent and the combined local tax from 7.9 percent to 8.4 percent.

On a $10 purchase, the additional half-cent tax would add 5 cents.

The city would continue budgeting about $500,000 for streets in its regular budget, but the additional $1.3 million, if approved by voters, would go towards specifically designated street projects over the next 10 years.

This spring the council plans to appoint a citizen advisory committee that will develop a list of specific street projects that the half-cent sales tax would pay for.

Alamosa City Manager Heather Brooks reminded the council during its meeting on Wednesday that the proposed half-cent sales tax would be dedicated to street work, and the citizen advisory committee would help determine what those specific projects would be. She said the city wants to be as transparent as possible in letting residents know how exactly the new tax would be spent.

The Alamosa city council unanimously voted to formally create the committee, which will consist of 12 members: two representatives from each of the city’s four wards; two at-large representatives; and two representatives from businesses, employers, Alamosa County Economic Development Corporation (ACEDC), or the Chamber of Commerce.

Residents can apply to serve on the committee until Friday, Feb. 22. The committee would only exist through the sales tax initiative this fall.

To apply see https://cityofalamosa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Board-Application-2018.pdf or call the Alamosa City Clerk’s office at 589-2272.

“We are starting to get applications coming in,” Brooks told city council during its February 6th meeting.

Once the citizen committee is set up, it will work over about a two-month period to develop a list of street projects that the city council can then either adopt or modify as the list that will go before voters this November in conjunction with the half-cent sales tax question. City staff will provide information to the committee but the committee will decide what street projects to refer to the city council to be linked to the ballot question.