Hoover City Council to Consider Sales Tax Increase
The Hoover City Council is expected to vote Tuesday night on increasing its sales tax by a half cent. The council will also consider boosting some lodging taxes and rental property fees.
Mayor Frank Brocato says Hoover needs the money to continue providing the level of services its residents expect such as good schools and recreational activities. Without the additional revenue, he says the city would face huge deficits.
The city projects the tax increases would bring in an additional $13 million dollars annually. Brocato says if it’s approved, he doesn’t anticipate a drop in retail traffic.
“I don’t think the first thing they do is look and see what the sales tax rate is,” Brocato says. “They come to Hoover because it’s a great place to come and shop and enjoy and eat, have great dining experiences, great shopping experiences.”
Because Hoover is split between two counties, the increase would mean an 8.5 percent sales tax for shoppers in Shelby County and a 9.5 percent tax in Jefferson County. Both rates are lower than the 10 percent sales tax in Birmingham, Homewood and Vestavia.
Emily Bedgood lives in Hoover, but she is a teacher and works in Vestavia Hills Schools. She says she always looks for good shopping deals, but an increase in Hoover sales tax is not going to affect her shopping choices.
She was shopping recently in the Galleria with her mother, Gwyneth Lord, a Vestavia Hills resident.
“It’s just one of those things,” Lord said. “We just had a vote to increase the sales tax in Vestavia. They want to keep a good school system.”
Years ago, Lord says she lived in Delaware where there was no sales tax. But she says property tax was much higher there than in Alabama.
Brocato, the Hoover mayor, says sales tax provides one of the few options for cities to generate revenue.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, we pay for things through sales taxes. We don’t pay for much through property tax,” Brocato says.
Here’s what Hoover Council will consider Tuesday:
Sales Tax Increase — .5 cent, for an estimated $10 million annually.
Lodging Tax Increase — $2 to $2.50 per night, for an estimated $1.2 million to $1.9 million annually.
Residential Lease Tax — 1 percent, for an estimated $1 million annually.
The council will vote separately on each item.
U.S. stops scheduling visa interviews for foreign students
The State Department has halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students while it prepares to expand the screening of their activity on social media, officials said.
Ex-police chief sentenced for rape and murder escaped prison disguised as prison guard
Law officers searched Arkansas' rugged Ozark Mountains for an ex-police chief and convicted killer who escaped prison by impersonating a guard and walking out through a gate a guard opened for him.
Noem urges Poles to elect Trump ally as CPAC holds its first meeting in Poland
The Conservative Political Action Conference held its first meeting in Poland on Tuesday, just days before a presidential election between a liberal mayor and a conservative backed by President Trump.
Former Sean Combs employee Capricorn Clark says he kidnapped her
On Tuesday, Clark, who worked for Combs for more than a decade, accused him of kidnapping her during a chaotic 2011 episode involving his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and the rapper Kid Cudi.
Almost 200,000 Palestinians displaced by latest Israeli military offensive
Israel has ordered tens of thousand of Gazans to move to zone in the south
Susan Brownmiller, whose landmark book changed attitudes on rape, dies at 90
In 1975, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape explored pernicious cultural and legal attitudes about rape and helped debunk the long-held view that victims were partly to blame.
