By James Bell
Hays Post

It’s official. That’s the word from the USD 489 administration on a petition seeking a half-cent sales tax question be put on the ballot along with the $94 million bond issue.

The Board of Education, administration and a group of volunteers sought the required ten percent of signatures from registered Hays voters after the Hays City Commission declined to put the question on a ballot in January.

The group has collected over 1,600 signatures, in an effort to ensure the required number of signatures would be able to be verified.

The Board needed approximately 1,227 signatures.

The petition will now go to the City Commission at their March 17 work-session.

The half-cent sales tax, if supported by voters, would go into effect when the Ellis County sales tax for the same amount that would sunset in 2018. The special county tax was used to support renovations at the Ellis County Courthouse and a new EMS building.

In effect tax rates would stay the same for Hays residents.

The sales tax would be used to offset the total cost of the bond issue and would sunset in 10 years.

The petition, however, does not guarantee the timing of the sales tax election. The City Commission could still push the question to a regular city election. The earliest that may occur is August of 2017, if there is a primary election for city officials. If not the question would be pushed to the November general election in 2017.