The people of Neosho have spoken.
At the polls on Tuesday, voters turned down the city of Neosho’s proposed property tax issue with 1,630 no votes cast to 1,039 yes votes.
As Neosho Mayor Richard Davidson said after hearing of the result, “we now have our marching orders.”
The five members of the Neosho City Council will now instruct city administration to cut approximately $1.2 million from the 2011 fiscal year budget, which begins Oct. 1.
The city must balance the budget, and to do so cuts in services will be made, Mayor Davidson has said during past public meetings.
What specific cuts will be done are an unknown at this time, but what is known is that city administration has not been shy in telling the public that services will be reduced in both police and fire protection — as the $1.2 million shortfall is in the general fund, which primarily funds those two departments.
There is still the possibility of the city council voting to institute a 42- cent property tax levy on real property only, but the legality of that tax could be caught up in red tape too long for it to be ready by the Sept. 1 deadline. If the tax were to be approved and put on the books, the city staff would still have to reduce expenses by more than $800,000.
These are uncertain times in Neosho.
The next few weeks and months are going to provide a lot of answers on the direction our community will go.
DAILY NEWS
