Voters in Rock Island County said ‘no’ to tax increases to fund schools and public safety with a one-percent increase in the county’s sales tax.
Voters were asked to approve a so-called “retailers occupation tax and service occupation tax” of an additional one percent to be used exclusively for school facilities.
With all precincts reporting, the one-percent sales tax increase to fund school facilities failed at roughly 56 to 44 percent. Of the 18,865 votes cast, 10,523 were against the measure and more than 8,300 were in favor.
Moyer responded on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 with some strong remarks to Tuesday's results. He says that there is no immediate plan to raise property taxes, but three of the proposed improvements to Moline High School will no longer happen.
"The auditorium upgrades, the swimming pool, Browning Field, all of those things that we talked about, are not going to happen in my lifetime," Moyer said.
The proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase, earmarked for “public safety purposes such as disaster readiness, animal control, and sheriff’s patrol” also failed. More than 13,000 votes were against the tax more than 5,500 votes were in favor.