The Homer City Council will hold a public hearing during Monday’s regular meeting on a proposition to place on the upcoming regular election ballot the question of retaining a 0.3% sales tax for funding a new community recreation center.

If passed, Ordinance 25-46 would ask voters in the October municipal election whether the city should, upon accruing “sufficient” funding to pay off the existing police station bond, reauthorize the 0.3% sales tax for another eight years to finance the acquisition and construction of a new multipurpose recreation center.

The ballot proposition would not increase Homer’s current 7.85% sales tax, but simply continue it for an additional eight-year term. The current sales tax rate is comprised of 3% Kenai Peninsula Borough sales tax and 4.85% city sales tax.

Council member Donna Aderhold clarified in an interview last Friday that 0.3% of the city sales tax is directed toward accumulating funds to pay off the general obligation bond previously taken out to fund construction of the new Homer Police Department station on Grubstake Avenue, and that 0.05% is for continued maintenance of the station. She said that the city “should have” accumulated enough money in the fund to be able to pay off the bond “sometime next year.”

This consideration comes as the city council, commissions and city staff continue conversation on viable locations for a new center in the face of the HERC’s deterioration and increased demand for community recreation.

Find Ordinance 25-46 in full at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/citycouncil/city-council-regular-meeting-331.

Aderhold and council member Jason Davis also said Tuesday that after meeting with the city attorney to review the ordinance language, a substitute ordinance may come before the council for consideration on Monday. The council also has the option to vote the current ordinance down and later introduce a new ordinance at their Aug. 11 meeting. If a new ordinance is introduced, it will also undergo a public hearing.

The Homer City Council’s next meeting will be held Monday, July 28, at 6 p.m. in the Homer City Hall Cowles Council Chambers.