Utility Tax Survey Administered by Galesburg Chamber of Commerce

The Galesburg Chamber of Commerce has administered a survey to their e-mail subscribers to get feedback on the proposed utility tax.Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steven Brody says the survey will be open through tomorrow so data can be prepared for the next Galesburg City Council meeting.

Brody tells WGIL that right now the support of funding local infrastructure improvements using the utility tax is “neck-and-neck”.

“The second question has to do specifically with the utility tax as the way to fund it and it’s actually running neck-and-neck right now,” says Brody. “There are just as many saying not supportive as there are that are in the very supportive and somewhat supportive categories.”

Brody says the first question on the survey asked business community members if they were supportive of repairing capital improvements, and the response was “overwhelmingly supportive”.

The utility tax proposed would include a fixed gas rate of five percent and a tiered electric tax rate based on the amount of power used, ranging from roughly four to six percent.

The utility tax and survey data will be presented at the Galesburg City Council Meeting on July 6th.