All eyes could turn to a single swing voter in a Missouri local election. Why? She’s the only one registered to vote in the district.
Business Loop 70 Community Improvement District wants to implement a sales tax to pay down debt, as reported by the Columbia Daily Tribune. State law requires sales tax decisions to be made by registered voters living within a community improvement district’s boundaries. If there are no such voters, property owners in the district vote.
District leadership attempted to draw its boundaries without any residents and hoped property owners would decide to increase the sales tax through the vote. The boundaries roughly include businesses within a 1.6 mile stretch of Business Loop 70. But Jen Henderson, a University of Missouri student, registered to vote at her residential address within the district, becoming the only registered voter there.
District leadership asked Henderson to unregister to vote so property owners could decide. But Henderson is intent on voting and, although she says she has not yet decided how to vote, she told the Columbia Daily Tribune she feels negatively about a higher sales tax.
Thinking about low-income families who buy groceries in the district, Henderson said, “Taxing their food is kind of sad. … They can barely afford to go buy food, and you’re taxing their food.” She pointed out the district’s executive director makes $70,000 a year while low-income families “make a quarter of that.” She also called it “manipulative” for the executive director to try to get her to unregister her vote.
The district already has a property tax that raises $50,000 a year. The sales tax is projected to be a $220,000 tax hike. Leadership claims the district won’t be viable without the income from the sales tax hike. The district owes more than $200,000 in debt to a communications strategy firm, a local bank and the city of Columbia.
