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Council delays vote on temporary 0.1% sales-tax suspension to review fiscal impacts
Summary
Councilmember Laverne proposed temporarily suspending 0.1% of the city’s 2% sales tax. Members voiced concerns about procedural authority, impacts on sheriff contract and road projects, and requested hard fiscal figures; the council deferred the item to Jan. 27, 2026.
Councilmember Laverne proposed an ordinance to temporarily suspend 0.1 percentage point of Central’s 2% general sales-and-use tax, describing it as a step toward incremental tax reduction. He framed the measure as fiscally conservative and not politically motivated. Council debate focused on whether the council has the procedural authority to make a temporary suspension (versus a ballot change for a permanent reduction), the size of the impact (estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars per year), and the timing of a forthcoming sheriff-contract workshop and a planned $10 million road rehabilitation effort.
Public commenters urged caution and asked for precise calculations of the city’s needs and surpluses before reducing revenue. Council members noted the city’s existing emergency and storm-recovery funds (discussed in the meeting as $10–14 million) and asked that staff present the fiscal impacts, utility/billing questions and the implications for contracted services before any vote.
Following discussion, the council voted to defer the ordinance to the Jan. 27, 2026 meeting so that staff could assemble fiscal figures, review procedural routes, and consider the sheriff-contract workshop expected in January.
