The Baldwin City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to schedule an Aug. 1 referendum on a half-cent sales tax to help finance a community center.

The decision was made at the request of Baldwin City Recreation Commission director Steve Friend, who said the sales tax increase plus the Baldwin City school board adding 1 mill to the BCRC’s current 4-mill property tax authority would provide $$3.95 million in 25 years to retire bond debt for the facility.

The community center plans Friend shared with the council for the first phase of the facility were those he presented the Baldwin City school board 24 hours earlier. The facility, which would occupy about 23,000 square feet, would have a basketball court, walking track, fitness room, multipurpose room and BCRC offices. It would not have the indoor swimming pool that was in earlier plans. That feature was derailed when the school board was unable to commit to a request from last year to increase the BCRC’s property tax authority by 2.75 mills.

The pool would be added in the second phase of the project, Friend said. That was not a “pie-in-the-sky” plan, he said, noting that a BCRC survey indicated a capital campaign could raise from $200,000 to $400,000 for the second phase. It would be easier to solicit donations for a single item like a pool, he said.

The passage of the ordinance doesn’t guarantee the referendum will be held, however, as Friend said the community center would not be viable without the school board’s approval of the requested 1-mill increase to BCRC taxing authority. The school board will consider the 1-mill increase again at its May 15 meeting.

Friend said, however, that setting a date for the referendum would aid scheduling with one “what if” scenario. Should the school board approve the 1-mill authority, it would have the ability to rescind the increase when approving the school district’s 2017-2018 budget in mid-August if the sales tax wasn’t approved.

Baldwin City resident Ted Brecheisen spoke against the referendum, saying the sales tax increase would cost residents every time they went to the grocery store. He said the city should focus on basic infrastructure improvements and not the community center, which would be a “money pit.”

Those were the concerns, too, of Councilman Tony Brown, who was the lone vote against scheduling the referendum.

“I love this concept,” he told Friend. “I appreciate all the work. For me, it’s a matter of priorities. We’ve been reminded several times tonight we don’t have unlimited funds.”

Speaking in favor of the measure, Councilwoman Kathy Gerstner said a community center would provide an amenity that would help the city grow by attracting new residents.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a final plat for the Schoolhouse Partners subdivision, an apartment complex Flint Hills Holdings L.L.C. plans for the former middle school in the 700 block of Chapel Street. The final plat subdivides the site into two lots, making future development of more apartments an option in the smaller subdivided lot north of the old school.

The City Council approved in June the site plan for a 30-unit apartment complex in the old middle school. Work is now underway on installation of a new parking lot at the site.

• Learned from city finance director Brad Smith that the state’s new tax lid legislation, which becomes effective with the city’s 2018 budget, would limit any city mill levy increase in the 2018 budget to about a half mill. Smith said the city would not have a problem budgeting within that limitation.