Johnson school districts gauging support for sales tax

Johnson school districts gauging support for sales tax

Big meeting in Solon last night. The ball is in Iowa City's court and there's a "good neighbor" mood about.


Press-Citizen.com covers the relevant history:

Iowa City School District officials considered a local option sales tax in 2002, but decided to opt for a bond referendum after organized labor and the Johnson County Democratic Party came out against it, calling it 'regressive' against low-income people, board president Pete Wallace said. The Democratic Party favored the $39.9 million bond, which passed with 70 percent of the vote in February 2003.

'They worked very hard for that passage,' Wallace said.

In the Gazette:

Wallace suspects opposition to a sales tax may have lessened in recent years.

Iowa City school board member Patti Fields said it is important to begin looking for allies in organized labor and the county Democrats — groups that urged the Iowa City district to pursue a bond referendum instead of a sales tax in 2003 — to build support for a countywide tax vote.

Judging from the heated debate at Saturday's convention, I'd say there's still significant opposition out there... it would be a lot easier to get the 60% for a bond than to get the 50% for a regressive tax.