Polk cities take another step toward sales tax vote
City councils in Des Moines, Pleasant Hill, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights approved resolutions Wednesday that would ask voters to approve adding 1 cent to the 6-cents-per-$1 state sales tax, with portions of the revenues raised by the additional tax going to property tax relief. The resolutions are a necessary technicality, asking the Polk County commissioner of elections to place the issue on the ballot in the individual communities. The elections in each city would be held March 5 and would mark the first time that cities with contiguous borders do not have to vote as a block on the local option sales and service tax. Voters in Des Moines, Windsor Heights and West Des Moines approved the local option sales tax during a vote last year, but the issue lost by 227 votes when ballots were tallied for all 10 Polk County communities with shared borders. State law requires that 50 percent of the revenues generated by a local option sales tax go toward property tax relief. Pleasant Hill, where voters turned down the tax in March 2018, plans to use 85 percent of an estimated $1.4 million in additional revenues for property tax relief, with the balance going toward projects that would stabilize property taxes, should the new proposal pass. West Des Moines could cut 79 cents from the current levy of $11.79 per $1,000 of taxable valuation. After residents on the Dallas County side of West Des Moines approved a local option sales tax in 2016, the city lowered the property tax rate to $11.79 from $12. The city could receive an estimated $7 million from the local option sales tax. In Windsor Heights, the city could slash its levy by 69 cents beginning with the fiscal 2021 budget year, based on estimated additional revenue of $850,000. Des Moines could receive an estimated $37 million in extra sales tax revenue. If the local option sales tax is approved in Des Moines, city leaders will cut the property tax levy by 60 cents per $1,000. All of the cities plan a range of public safety and infrastructure improvements with the remaining revenues. If approved, the tax would be effective July 1.