SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — One issue Springfield voters will see on their ballots is whether or not to approve a new three-fourths-cent sales tax to replace the expiring police-fire pension sales tax.
The ballot says one-quarter of the sales tax will go toward public safety and funding the remaining contributions to the Police Fire Pension system and the rest will go toward investments in neighborhoods and community initiatives in line with the city’s comprehensive plan.
“So Springfield currently has about a 42% homeownership rate just in comparison to the national average. The national average hovers in the mid-sixties, so we are quite a bit below the national average. And so our whole mission is to try to raise that up at a minimum to 50%, but really to create that stability in these neighborhoods that we serve,” said Brendan Griesemer, Executive Director of Restore SGF. He was one of the members of the Citizens Commission Group and his contributions helped define what initiatives could be addressed if this new tax were to pass.