Columbus won’t be asking for that new 1% sales tax this year, mayor says. Here’s why

Mayor Skip Henderson said in a video announcement Wednesday that he will ask Columbus Council to postpone a vote on a new sales tax that was scheduled for this fall.

Council is expected to vote on the delay at the May 12 council meeting.

Henderson said the decision is due to the financial stress that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on citizens.

“We recognize that there are strains being put on your household budget,” Henderson said in a video posted to his Facebook page.

The tax, a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, would place an additional 1% tax on most purchases in the city. The city’s sales tax is already at 8%, 1% of that being a SPLOST from the school system that is up for renewal this year. If both are approved, the city’s sales tax would push the overall sales tax to 9%.

The SPLOST was proposed to fund $350 million in capital improvements in the city, the most pressing of which was a project to replace the aging government center, an expense that could be anywhere from $100 million to $150 million.

Citizens will be asked to weigh in on what the other capital improvement projects should be in a series of public meetings, and have the final say on approving or denying the project list at the ballot box. The funds would come in over a period of 10 years.

Henderson made it clear the delay is in no way a cancellation of the SPLOST vote.

“We still take very seriously the commitment we made to you about improving the government center facilities, making them safer for the constituents and the community that may enter,” he said.

He said the city will take up the issue again in 2021.