Loveland’s City Council will have the opportunity on Tuesday to hammer out the details of a sales tax hike that may appear on the ballot this November.
While a hike has been discussed previously — in a council budget subcommittee chaired by Ward IV councilor Don Overcash between February and April, at the council’s last regular meeting on May 5 and by the Citizens’ Finance Advisory Commission on May 13 — the exact amount of the hike has yet to be agreed on, and city staffers have not yet drafted the language of a ballot item.
With a state sales tax rate of 2.9% and a county tax rate of 0.8%, customers within Loveland city limits pay 6.7 cents on the dollar in sales tax currently.
Proposed hikes range from 0.25% to 1.25%, with some proposals leaving the tax on grocery food for home consumption unchanged and others eliminating the tax on grocery food entirely.
Raising the tax by 1% on all goods except grocery food would net $18.3 million in 2021 and $236.8 million over the next 10 years, costing the average household about $3.07 more per week.
While the subcommittee was originally assembled to address a projected $7.5 million general fund shortfall in 2021, the sales tax discussion has since been framed in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information: Loveland Reporter Herald
Loveland reporter herald
by: Max levy
may 18, 2020