To preserve a critical source of funding, the Evans City Council finalized ballot language to make the city’s current 1% road tax permanent before it sunsets in 2027.
On Tuesday, the city council voted unanimously to bring its road tax back to the ballot this November, adjusting the language so that the tax is made permanent until another measure is introduced to remove it. Including the 1% road tax, Evans has a 4.5% sales and use tax that the city depends on to fund services and infrastructure.
Approved in 2020, the road tax generates $4 million in annual revenue that is used exclusively for road maintenance, safety and expansion. According to Councilwoman Alicia Johnson, before the road tax, it cost Evans $600,000 just to maintain the roads, and it was not sustainable.
“If we gain the support of our community to continue this work, I think it would only better our city,” Johnson said. “And it continues that same level of services that we all want: safe and accessible roads for people.”
The sustainability of the city of Evans’ budget is a battle that the city council has been attempting to address for several months now. With polling and public comment indicating a lack of support for raising property taxes, the city is trying to preserve whatever funds it can to plug a massive deficit in its expected budget that will continue until 2030.
Currently, the city is expecting to have spent $14 million over budget in 2025 but expects that to drop to $225,141 over budget in 2026 due to no capital expenses listed. However, this deficit is expected to continue increasing to $1.6 million in 2030.
“This just really goes to show that no matter how well you budget and how conservative you are, at the end of the day, we’re going to start running some deficits,” Mayor Mark Clark said. “Granted, in the first couple of years, they’re not huge, but they’re still deficits.”
According to the budget presentation on Tuesday, the city spent $14.4 million on personnel and $14.5 million on capital projects. City services only made up $6.5 million of the total $35.7 million in expenditures for 2025.
In light of this impending deficit, the city is looking to do whatever it can to inform residents of the importance of making the tax permanent this November. Council members said they will look to educate the public wherever possible, and Clark will host multiple town halls to speak with residents about it between now and Election Day.
City Manager Cody Sims said the road tax is vital for road improvements throughout the city. Without this permanent source of funding, the city will be unable to proceed with its planned improvements for 49th Street, he added.
“I cannot stress enough that this street sales tax is the linchpin for 49th Street,” Sims said. “49th is a huge project. It is my opinion that 49th Street is only attainable with an indefinite street sales tax, because that provides a guaranteed funding source to carry that cost.”
If the road tax is made permanent in November, the city will begin engineering work immediately, Sims continued. But it will likely take a year before construction starts due to the size of the project. The project would stretch from 65th Avenue to Industrial Parkway.
“I just want to say to everybody out there that this is a very important funding source for the city,” Clark said. “If you travel around Evans, there’s still a lot of work to be done, especially along 49th Street and other areas in the community. But we’ve made a lot of progress. And if it wasn’t for this 1% street sales tax, a lot of the progress that we’ve made so far would not have happened.”
The Evans City Council will review the 2026 budget starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 at the Evans Recreation Center, 1100 37th St.
Election Day is Nov. 4.
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