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Pittsburg Voters to determine reauthorization of ½ public safety sales tax

Residents first approved the sales tax in 2013, supplementing the City’s public safety budget bringing in, on average, 1.6 million dollars annually.

Pittsburg, (KS) residents head to the polls today to vote on reauthorizing a public safety sales tax resident first approved in 2013. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

In 2013, by a 60/40 margin, Pittsburg voters approved a ½ cent public safety sales tax for ten years. At the time, Pittsburg city officials said the new tax would generate on average 1.8 million dollars to help fund the City’s police and fire services.

Depending on the strength of Pittsburg’s economy, the ½ cent sales tax took in as little as 1.4 million dollars during the first year of the pandemic in 2020. The tax rebounded the following year to 1.8 million dollars and 2.3 million last year. So far, the City has received about $19.2 million over the previous decade and has roughly $1.8 million in reserves used to augment the expenses.

The increase in funding has helped replace a 30-year-old Fire Engine at Fire Station #1, the personal Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), and protective structural firefighting bunker gear used by firefighters. The sales tax is set to expire in December of this year. Polls are open today from 7 am until 7 pm.

For 89 9 KRPS News, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro

Since 2017 Fred Fletcher-Fierro has driven up Highway 171 through thunderstorms, downpours, snow, and ice storms to host KRPS’s Morning Edition. He’s also a daily reporter for the station, covering city government, elections, public safety, arts, entertainment, culture, sports and more. Fred has also spearheaded and overseen a sea change in programming for KRPS from a legacy classical station to one that airs a balance of classical, news, jazz, and cultural programming that better reflects the diverse audience of the Four States. For over two months in the fall of 2022 he worked remotely with NPR staff to relaunch krps.org to an NPR style news and information website.