Columbia voters have overwhelmingly approved a ten-year extension of the city’s one-fourth of one percent capital improvement sales tax.
The final vote on Columbia Proposition 1 was 14,086 to 5,696.
Columbia’s city council voted in May to place the issue on the August ballot. City manager De’Carlon Seewood says the voter-approved sales tax extension is expected to generate about $83-million in the next decade. The city has identified about 40 possible projects for potential funding, which includes updating and replacing aging fire trucks. Other possible projects include planning and building additional public safety infrastructure for both Columbia police and fire.
The city is also looking at improving south Columbia’s Bethel and Green Meadows intersection. They have a $1-million plan to replace the four-way stop there with a roundabout and to add sidewalks. The city is considering a $7-million project to improve busy Clark lane from Woodland Hills to Ballenger. The project would include widening the road, adding bicycle lanes and a center turn lane.
