How the 3/4 cent sales tax funds police pension and city improvements

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Earlier this month voters in Springfield passed a 3/4 cent sales tax that is expected to fund city improvements and fund police and fire pensions.

One-quarter of the tax is going towards public safety and the other half-cent would fund things like the Forward SGF plan.

"There's really a culture of support and really collaboration with the city organization and with our community," said Springfield City Manager Jason Gage.

The tax would go into effect in April of 2025.

"It wasn't a tax increase," said Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams. "It's just redistributing those funds that they've been they've been paying for the last 15 years."

One-fourth of the tax would give about $15 million a year to public safety, including police and fire pensions.

"Any future increases or salary benefits for police and fire will be able to come out of this and not out of that general fund, which leaves that to the rest of the city employees to enjoy some increase in salary benefits," Williams said.

The remaining half-cent of the tax would fund $30 million a year for neighborhood and community initiatives.

"It also puts us in a good position to compete because whether people realize or not, we do compete for residents and for businesses and for people to visit," Gage said.

Examples of other projects around town funded by similar taxes are the daylighting of Jordan Creek and the Grant Avenue Parkway improvements.

"Not every project will be that large and that expensive, but those are really good examples of those pieces that we say it's about creating a community that our folks want to have," Grant said.

The community side of the tax has a 10-year sunset, while the public safety side does not.

"This community is so supportive that they passed a tax to increase your salary and benefits now in the future," Williams said. "And I think that's a huge commitment and it's something you don't see in most places around the country."