It sounds like Mayor Suzette Cooke and most of the Kent City Council is not in agreement when it comes to how B&O tax revenue is spent.
The B&O tax was sold to the business community in Kent by promising that the intent for the funds collected was that it be used to do street repairs. However, the ordinance is written to say that there is a cap on how much will go toward street repairs and the rest will go toward paying down city debt.
It is easy to see how Kent business owners would feel misled by the way the money is being spent and put pressure on the City Council to amend the ordinance to reflect the original intent of the tax as they understand it.
I would be interested to know if the mayor feels like her intent for collecting this tax was not clearly stated to the business community by the City Council. It sounds like the City Council told the business community that the money would only be spent for street repairs when that was not the only intent for the money in the budget. Did the City Council knowingly mislead the Chamber of Commerce when trying to get their support for implementing the tax or were they not clear on the mayor’s intent for collecting the tax in the first place?
– Staci Whitehouse
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