RES012201 - Use Tax and Community Comeback Fund - Prop CC

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RESOLUTION WHEREAS, many citizens. municipal and county officials, church groups and others have spent several years creating a plan to deal with local government finance and loss of tax base in St. Louis County; and WHEREAS, the St. Louis County Council has placed on the April 2001 ballot a proposal to ask voters to reinstate the countywide use tax of 1.85% on out-of*state purchases; and WHEREAS, this use tax would be allocated in two ways: 1) to provide funds to bring all cities in the County and the County up to the countywide per capita sales tax average, and 2) to provide funding for a Comeback Community program that would help reverse or prevent decline in xnany communities; and WHEREAS, the City of University City would receive approximately $27 per capita from the use tax to continue to provide vitally needed services to our residents; and WHEREAS, the tax would be paid predominantly by businesses that buy office and other equipment from companies in other states, thus avoiding local sales taxes; and WHEREAS, the use tax will help level the playing field for local merchants that must charge local sales taxes on such purchases while out-of-state competitors currently do not; and WHEREAS, only those residents that purchase out-of-state goods totaling ~nore than $2000 per year are required to submit a use tax return. thus eliminating the impact on most local residents: and WHEREAS. the Community Comeback Fund would address reinvestment obstacles by channeling a significant amount of money towards residential, commercial and industrial revitalization throughout the County: and WHEREAS, this effort to enhance the revenues of local governments while attacking spreading blight in St. Louis County is a landmark effort in the region to act now before problems become too expensive or too widespread to solve. THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED. that the Mayor and City Council of the City of University City supports the passage of the Use Tax and Community Comeback Fund on April 3 and urges our residents to vote in favor of Proposition CC. ADOPTED ATTEST: 2001.