The countywide effort in Dallas County to put local option sales tax measures on the November general election ballot is one step closer to completion.

At the recent Perry City Council meeting, City Administrator Sven Peterson revealed the petition to put the measure on the ballot reached about 2,300 signatures. They needed a minimum of just over 1,900 signatures, but Peterson is glad they got extra in case some signatures aren’t accepted. Peterson will officially present the petition at next week’s Dallas County Supervisors meeting. They can then formally accept the petition and turn it over to the County Auditor’s office.

It will then be up to each individual city in the county to come up with their own wording for the measure on their ballot. Cities such as West Des Moines, Clive, and Urbandale will likely opt out of the measure, as they don’t want different sales tax rates between the Polk County and Dallas County portions of the cities.

Peterson says while the City of Perry has acted as the facilitator for the petition, it was the cities of Dawson and DeSoto that were really leading the way. He was appreciative of the hard work everyone put into the effort. “I can’t thank everybody enough for all the help that they’ve given to this issue. Also to the people that’ve signed the petition, thank you, we really appreciate it. It’s great to see the people can appreciate the value that this brings to our community.”

The tax goes towards many city expenditures, including emergency vehicles, technology, and repair projects. To hear more about this and other City of Perry topics, listen to Tuesday’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.