Where would Deer Park tax hike go?

With voters in Deer Park preparing to weigh in on a proposed sales tax increase, where the additional money would go has become a bone of contention.

The questions awaiting voters at the polls Tuesday are whether to support a 0.5 percentage point sales tax increase "for expenditure on public infrastructure, such as street and drainage improvements."

Village President Scott Gifford said the money that would generate -- estimated at $700,000 a year -- would be used strictly as advertised.

"It is very clear," he said.

Deborah Barry, an organizer of the local watchdog group Deer Park Neighbors, wants voters to reject the tax. She believes the referendum's wording will allow the money to be spent in other places.

If the wording had been, "limited to street and drainage improvements," instead of "such as," Barry said she might have been more supportive.

Gifford insists there's no plan to spend the money on anything but infrastructure.

"There has been no talk or desire from any board member to spend it anywhere else," he said.

Some infrastructure is deteriorating, which is why there's a need to fund improvements that could cost $1 million annually, he said.

The village recently conducted a community forum to help prioritize roads and drainage needs. Based on that and recommendations from the village engineer, Gifford said a decision will be made as to what to fix first.

As a community without home-rule powers or a local property tax, Gifford said this is the best way to raise additional funds.

"We have no permanent funding mechanism other than the sales tax," he said.

By raising the sales tax, those who are coming into town to shop would be helping to foot the bill of the roads and drainage program. A village study, he said, showed 98 percent of the shoppers at Deer Park Town Center live in other villages.

Village officials said for those who spend $500 a month in the village on items such as clothes, books and eating out, the additional sales tax would cost them about $2.50 more a month.

In an informal poll of Town Center shoppers this week, all said the increase would not stop them from doing business in town.

Deer Park Town Center representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Barry said she believes the new money would not be necessary if prior and current village boards had spent village funds more wisely.

"This board cannot be trusted to spend the money responsibly," she said.

Barry worries the money could be used to continue help paying for Vehe Barn.

The historic barn restoration began in 2003 and was scheduled to be done in 2004. But the work was plagued by delays that finally pushed the village to fire its contractor earlier this year and hire another to finish the job.

"This sales tax referendum is nothing less than retroactive funding for the Vehe property," Barry said.

Gifford also scoffed at that, saying sales tax money would go into a separate fund that could not be used on the barn.

"These are two totally separate issues," Gifford said.

If approved, the increased sales tax would go into effect July 1.