Jackson and Teton County officials have decided to let voters decide whether to use 6 million dollars raised from a sales tax to fix a slow moving land slide.
The slide began about 2 years ago and has cut off access to a neighborhood and a Walgreens. It also threatened underground water pipes and split a home in two.
Jackson Mayor Sara Flitner says if the slide is not completely fixed, natural events like a wet day or an earthquake could put residents in danger.
"Those two events combined could lead to a lurch that would snap the water lines, there would be no way to get around that, and we would have millions of gallons of water on Broadway within minutes," she says.
Using revenue from a sales tax is a chance to let tourists help out with the cost, says Flitner, and if residents don’t approve the measure it will be a much slower process to raise the money.
"If they don’t approve it, then we will continue to do what we have been doing since the slide happened, which is apply for grants which is beg borrow and steal from ourselves," she says.
So far the town has come up with about 3 million dollars of the 10 million needed to fix the slide.
The special ballot question will be put to voters on August 16.
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