Baxter's ballot question

Shall the city of Baxter be authorized to impose a sales and use tax of .5 percent and an excise tax of $20 per retail sale of motor vehicle, and to issue its general obligation bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $15 million, plus the cost of issuing the bonds, to finance the acquisition and betterment of water and wastewater facilities, a fire substation and the Paul Bunyan bridge over Excelsior Road.

The sales and use tax would be pledged to pay the bonds, but as general obligations of the city, the bonds would ultimately be guaranteed by the city's property taxes. If the bonds were paid entirely from property tax levies, the amount of such an increased levy as a percent of market value would be 0.278 percent, and the total amount of such taxes in the first year of any such levy would be $1,680,000.

By voting yes on this ballot question, you are voting for a property tax increase. Sale and use taxes are intended to be the primary source of payment for the bonds and property taxes will increase only if sales and use tax revenues are not sufficient to pay principal and interest on the bonds when due.