Opponents of Meals Tax Gather 1,100 Signatures for Referendum

A petition to repeal the recently passed meals tax received well over the 1,100 signatures required to hold a referendum, and Town Clerk Laurence Pizer will advise the Board of Selectmen to schedule a special election in January at tonight's Selectmen's meeting.

According to a Facebook page titled "Vote No on Plymouth Meals Tax" the petitioners presented more than 2,300 signatures to the town clerk Nov. 3, 10 days after Town Meeting approved the measure that would ostensibly create a fund to pay for the town's 400th anniversary celebration in 2020. Ten days is the deadline for appealing a Town Meeting vote set by the town's charter.

The petition was begun by a group of residents led by Laurie Klotzbach Curtis, the director of the Vote No on Meals Tax Increase Committee and president of 1620 Associates, a local public relations firm.

The 0.75 percent tax that was approved by Town Meeting would be added to the sale of restaurant meals served in Plymouth. Supporters say the tax will reap the benefits of the town's tourism industry to create a fund to pay for 2020, which it is assumed will be Plymouth's biggest tourism year ever.

Opponenets say the tax is unfair to both local restaurants, and residents who would bear the brunt of the tax.

The tax is scheduled to begin in January, the fund would pay for expenses related to the town's 400th anniversary celebration in 2020. It would also pay for infrastructure improvements to Town Square, Burial Hill and Court Square. The Celebration Fund would be funded by the revenues from the meals tax. The excise tax would terminate June 30, 2021 unless it is extended by a vote of Town Meeting.

Town Clerk Pizer is suggesting Jan. 14 as the date of the special election.

The vote will cost the town aproximately $38,000, Pizer told WATD:

"The biggest cost actually is the police presence, which is about $8,000, but the rest of the cost is about thirty thousand dollars so we expect the whole thing to cost about thirty-eight thousand dollars."

This version removes information about the 1820 Courthouse.