The Gardendale City Council is divided about an upcoming tax vote, but the numbers seem to tilt in favor of increasing sales tax in the city by 1 percent.

On Monday, councilman Alvin Currington read parts of an ordinance that would allow the city council to increase sales tax in the city from 3 percent to 4 percent.

Currently, sales tax on items in Gardendale is 9 percent; merchants pay the state of Alabama 4 percent, Jefferson County 2 percent and Gardendale 3 percent of their gross sales.

Mayor Othell Phillips is opposed to the tax, saying that he ran for office promising not to raise taxes.

“I take my word very seriously and I am committed to my promises,” Phillips said. He added that the city of Gardendale is not in “dire straits,” and therefore raising taxes during an economic recession is unethical.

Councilman Wendell Phillips is also against the tax.

“If we were in dire straits, I would havegone to the business people and asked for support. But it didn’t go that way,” Phillips said. “I certainly concur with the mayor. It’s not needed. We’re definitely not broke. We have $6 million in reserve.”

Currington said it is true the city has $6 million in reserve, but $1.5 of that is earmarked for projects such as building roads and purchasing equipment. He also said the reserve fund is actually the city’s general operating fund, not a separate account.

Currington is chairman of the city’s financial committee, which also consists of Faith Harper and Peggy Tumlin. The financial committee has been working for six months on a way to improve the city’s financial status, according to Currington. He said the 1-cent tax is the best way.

The additional tax would be earmarked for three items: A capital improvement fund to be used exclusively for the Gardendale-Martha Moore Public Library expansion program; a debt retirement fund to pay off the city’s long-term debt; and an economic development fund to be used for recruitment of new and expanding business, construction of municipal infrastructure, granting incentives and acquiring property.

Currington said “zero percent” of the funds would be used for the city’s operating expenses.

“This is not meant to increase the city’s revenue,” he said.

Harper said the increased sales tax is necessary because “we are a sales-tax only economy. We have no property tax here. We have been able to maintain that status and do a lot for a town our size.”

However, she said, income from sales taxes are on a decline.

Harper said the city’s ongoing debt obligations from three main projects — the Gardendale Civic Center, Gardendale Post Office and the Odum Road project — is sinking the city.

“We’re in the worst shape we’ve been in since the incorporation of the city in 1955,” she said, adding that the city has imposed budget cuts, issued a hiring freeze, withheld raises from employees and ceased all capital projects.

The tax is expected to generate $9.5 million in the four years it would be collected.

“The beauty of this plan is it has a beginning date and an end date,” Harper said. “With my single vote, I’m voting to implement it and to end it.”

Harper said she realizes some residents and business owners oppose the plan, one of whom is Jeff Dennis of Jeff Dennis Jewelers in Gardendale. Dennis started a Facebook page opposing the tax. As of Friday, 395 people had joined the page.

Another business owner, Luke Fielding of the Game Shop, said now is a bad time in the economy to be raising taxes. “Why not leave it at 9 percent and be competitive with Fultondale,” he said. Tax in Fultondale is currently 10 percent. “Businesses are having trouble across the board. They’re having to cut wherever they can.”

Harper said business owners do not have the same goals as the city council.

“They have no responsibility for the future of this city. They have a responsibility for their bottom line,” Harper said. “I don’t want to impede anybody’s ability to do business in Gardendale. We’re just trying to capitalize on the shoppers that are spending.”

Councilman Gary Morris also supports the sales tax.

“If it was voted on today, I would vote for it,” he said. “For the last two years we’ve taken out of our reserve about a million dollars for operating expenses. You can’t continue borrowing money out of the reserves. In two or two and a half years, it would be dangerously low.”

Morris said he understands that people already feel they are paying too much in taxes.

“And I do too,” he said. “But all we pay in our area is a 3-percent sales tax with no property tax, and that’s the biggest bargain in the state.”

Peggy Tumlin did not return calls by press time, but as a member of the three-person financial committee, Tumlin is believed to support the tax.

Mayor Phillips and most of the council members said they have been inundated with telephone calls from voters regarding the tax.

“Of the people I’ve personally talked to or the phone calls I’ve received, no citizens have been in favor of the proposed ordinance,” Mayor Phillips said.

The ordinance is expected to be on the Gardendale City Council’s agenda for the Oct. 4 council meeting. If adopted, the tax increase would be in effect from Nov. 1, 2010, to Nov. 1, 2014.