Quincy Food and Beverage Tax revenues top $700K for first half of 2021

QUINCY – Quincy City Treasurer Linda Moore gave a detailed report to the Quincy City Council Monday night that showed the City is on track to bring in more revenue than expected from the Food and Beverage tax.

So far, the one-cent increase has brought in more than $716,000 to city coffers this year. City officials have allocated $590,000 so far to tourism and marketing efforts including the BET on Q grant program to assist with bringing events to Quincy and the Q-WRAP property tax rebate plan.

There are 249 local businesses who are paying into the fund.

City officials had projected the tax to bring in $1.25 million, so revenues are ahead of schedule, barring any unforeseen circumstances such as another COVID-induced shutdown should rates rise to the point where government officials decide to enact such a measure.

There was no discussion at Monday night’s council meeting regarding the allocation of the remainder of the revenue, although the creation of the tax was to go toward tourism and marketing efforts.

In other action, Aldermen approved a new three-year contact with Quincy Firefighters, Local 63 of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Firefighters will receive 2.75 percent, 2.75 percent and 3 percent raises over the length of the deal, which extends to April 30, 2024. They will also receive additional longevity pay of 0.5 percent for every 10, 15 and 23 years of service, but those increases are off their base salary and not compounded.

“I think it’s a fair contract,” Quincy Fire Chief Bernie Vahlkamp said. “It cleaned up a lot of language and it’s a fair raise.”