City officials seek to extend capital improvement sales tax to 10 years, citing steep project cost increases

Jefferson City will ask voters in August to renew a half-cent capital improvement (CIP) sales tax and to change its sunset period from five years to ten, city parks officials said during a community presentation.

Aaron Gufreth, director of JC Parks, told the meeting the tax funds roads, sidewalks, major facilities and equipment and “helps us get complete large projects without raising property taxes.” He said the levy is a half-cent sales tax paid on local purchases and has been in place since 1986, renewed eight times.

Gufreth said the request to extend the sunset reflects sharp increases in construction and project costs since 2020. “For instance is at the Vivian Ballfields on the bleachers, in 2025, we had a quote for new bleachers approximately 163,000. A few weeks ago, I received an updated quote and it was about 212,000,” he said, noting this roughly 30% rise makes long-term planning harder for large work.

Officials said a 10-year horizon would let the city better plan debt service for larger projects and improve its ability to prepare competitive grant applications, which increasingly require full planning documents. Gufreth offered a hypothetical: a $5 million project spread over 10 years could translate into roughly $500,000 of debt service a year.

A slide shown at the presentation listed historical CIP allocations: about 59% to public works, 20% to public safety, 10% to ITS/GIS and contingency, and 10% to parks. City staff said the county recently passed a similar tax with roughly 80% approval and that the city hopes voters will respond similarly.

During a public question-and-answer period, an attendee asked whether parks’ 10% share would be preserved; Gufreth said, “as of today and coming up for the August ballot, the percentages should stay the same is what I’m being told,” and added he expected the finance committee would discuss the item later the same day and that he would follow up by email.

The city’s community information coordinator, Molly Bryant, said the presentations are being recorded and will be posted on the city’s YouTube page, and that a non-staff campaign team will do outreach and point residents to the materials.

Next steps: the proposal will appear on the August ballot; city staff said the council finance committee planned to consider the matter the same afternoon and that officials would continue public outreach before the election.