Sales Tax For Flood Control? - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Sales Tax For Flood Control?

A Minot city council committee has recommended a sales tax to help pay the city's costs of building a flood control project.

The Finance Committee met this afternoon and passed an ordinance that would enact a one-cent sales tax as of July First, 2014.

That's when a current one-cent tax is due to expire.

The new sales tax would have half of its proceeds go toward paying for flood control with the other half split among job growth, improvement projects, and property tax relief.

The amount raised through the tax varies based on the economy, but using 2012 as a guide, the proposed flood control fund would have collected more than 6-and-a-half million dollars.

The Minot portion of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection project is estimated to cost more than a half-billion dollars.

How much of the total the local government will have to pay is unknown right now, but it's expected to be just a fraction of the total cost.

Today's recommendation goes on to the full city council, which is expected to vote on the sales tax on Monday.