The Block: To be Decided in April Vote
The Block is one step closer to reality.
By their vote, board members agreed to include a referendum question on a proposed one-quarter of 1 percent sales tax increase on the April 7, 2009, Peoria County ballot.
The public funds raised by the proposed Peoria County sales tax increase would close the gap on the public funding goal for The Block. Private funds totaling $78 million would cover the remaining cost of the development, 86 percent of which has been raised.
Currently, this Peoria County sales tax question is the only referendum scheduled for the April 7, 2009, Peoria County ballot. The language of the referendum, included in full below, will not mention the Peoria Riverfront Museum, but rather “public facility purposes”:
At a special meeting on Jan. 27, 2009, the Peoria County Board voted nearly unanimously—16 to one—to allow county voters to decide if they want to help finance the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
Tax Details
The proposed one-quarter of 1 percent increase (1/4%) would equal 25 cents on every $100 spent on select purchases. The tax would be assessed only when residents and visitors dine at Peoria County restaurants, stay in Peoria County hotels or purchase non-titled, non-food retail goods. Groceries, prescriptions, property and titled goods, such as vehicles, would not be taxed.
If a majority of voters agree to the sales tax increase, it would begin Jan. 1, 2010, and continue a maximum of 20 years, raising up to $40 million for the museum.
Funding Significance
If the referendum does not pass, The Block will not have sufficient public funding to proceed. As a result, The Block would lose all of the public and private funds already pledged, as well as the Caterpillar Experience.
Referendum Language
To pay for public facility purposes, shall Peoria County be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by one quarter of one percent (1/4%) for a period not to exceed twenty (20) years? This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional twenty-five cents (25¢) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail. If imposed, the additional tax would cease being collected at the end of twenty (20) years, if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board.