Dear Editor:
When I was on the City Council and later as mayor, I saw the progress made possible by the voters continuing to endorse the city's half-cent capital improvements sales tax with overwhelming majorities every five years over the last three decades. We will once again be invited to renew this this tax for another five years on Aug. 2 and I write to encourage my friends and neighbors to vote "yes."
When you look at projects like Highway 179 and Missouri Drive. the Lafayette Street improvements and the East McCarty streetscape, modern fire and police equipment and facilities, overlay and intersection projects and parks improvements, you can see exactly where the these tax dollars have been spent. I cannot imagine what our city would look like without this support.
This tax has a "sunset." Every five years the voters can decide whether the city has been a good steward of these funds. The funds are segregated from other revenue streams and used only for the purposes proposed in advance by the City Council. The accounting is a matter for public record open to scrutiny.
The ballot on Aug. 2 is crowded, and the media will be full of other issues. Please watch for Proposition One and keep Jefferson City moving forward with your "yes" vote.
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