FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Fairhope’s status as one of the few Alabama cities without a municipal sales tax is safe for now.

Mayor Tim Kant made all but sure of that Thursday by vetoing a 2-cent sales tax three days after it was adopted by the City Council in a 3-2 vote, which is one vote shy of that needed for an override.

But Kant’s veto could lead to city employee cutbacks to address financial problems the tax revenue was meant to help, Councilman Lonnie Mixon said Thursday.

“There’s no other way around it,” Mixon said. “I don’t think the council wants to take on any more debt like we’ve done the past few years to pay our bills. So, we would have to look at cutbacks of non-essential staff in some departments — like planting of flowers, maybe at the golf course and such — but police, fire, garbage and utilities staff would not be touched.”

Kant hand delivered a two-page memo to the City Clerk’s office just before 3 p.m. that stated he had vetoed the sales tax measure.

Although he has been on vacation this week and was not present at Monday’s council meeting when the sales tax was adopted, Kant stopped by City Hall Thursday afternoon to deliver the veto in person.

“Is the city flush with money?” the veto memo said. “No. But do we have an outstanding bond and credit rating? Yes, and our debt is low compared to other cities our size. It’s due in large measure to the fact we not have a sales tax. Our lack of a sales tax serves as our CD, or certificate of deposit. We can always enact that tax on a moment’s notice when an actual emergency exists. And the situation in which we find ourselves right now is no emergency.”

The first sales tax in the city’s 101-year history was adopted Monday, with council members Rick Kingrea, Lonnie Mixon and Dan Stankoski voting for the measure, and Council President Debbie Quinn and Councilman Mike Ford voting against it.

But for the mayor’s veto or an unlikely override at the next council meeting, the tax would have been effective June 1.

At Monday’s council meeting, Kingrea said he wished Kant had been present at the meeting and challenged him to come forward with a plan for addressing the city’s finances, citing statistics showing the city will have a deficit of more than $1 million by the end of the year unless some action is taken.

Kingrea said he and Mixon met with the mayor recently to discuss how to cut the city’s expenses and was told he would not oppose a sales tax.

Mixon confirmed that Thursday but went further.

“The mayor said at that meeting, ‘I’m at wit’s end’ about where else to cut expenses in the city’s budget,” said Mixon. “It was at that point we said that we planned to move forward with a sales tax and asked him if he would oppose it. He looked Rick in the eye and said ‘no.’”

Mixon said he then asked Kant if he would veto a sales tax if one were adopted by the council.

“The mayor looked me in the eye and said ‘no,’” Mixon said. “Then a week later at the public meeting, that’s when he said he would oppose it. Kant told us one thing to our face, and a week later said just the opposite in a large meeting.”

At that meeting attended by more than 200 people, the majority of speakers opposed the tax.

Quinn’s vote against the tax may have encouraged Kant to exercise his veto because her support would be necessary to join the other three council members who voted for it to successfully override the veto.

Ford has been vocal in his opposition to the tax. Unless Quinn shifts her position, the veto will stand.

In a news article yesterday, Quinn said she could change her vote at the May 11 council meeting, depending on whether there was a commitment to cut more money from the budget.

In Kant’s veto memo, he states he has “been working diligently the past several weeks” on plans to cut city expenses.

“This plan will require sacrifice on the part of all of us: council members who must learn to say no; city employees (which none will lose their jobs), who I know will step forward to do their part at this critical time in our city’s history; and citizen volunteers who may be called upon to play an even greater role in our city’s future.”

Kant’s memo concluded by stating, “I am confident this plan will work and most of all I’m confident that Fairhopers, perhaps more than most, understand the need for government to operate within its income.”

Mixon, who chairs the council’s finance committee and has worked closely with city staff in analyzing government finances since taking office last November, said Thursday he was unaware of any financial plan developed by the mayor.

“I have not seen one,” Mixon said.

Kant’s statement that no city employees would lose their jobs as part of his plan is not entirely within his control because the council passed an ordinance this year giving it power to hire and fire most city department heads and managerial staff.

Mixon said Kant’s veto could lead the council to pass additional laws to authorize changes in other staffing areas if necessary.

“There are many things we can do,” he said.

Kant stated in his memo that passing a sales tax would be taking the “easy way out” saying, “if we become dependent on sales tax revenue, it will fuel massive retail growth which will detract from our core downtown business district.”

Shortly after the mayor’s veto was received at the clerk’s office, a news release was issued by the city announcing it. Less than an hour after that, a work session was announced to precede the first council meeting of the month on May 11 but no agenda was included regarding the subject matter of the meeting.

Since the new council took office in November, work sessions are normally held once a month prior to the second council meeting, according to new procedures adopted by the council.

The work session on May 11 starts at 4:45 p.m. with the regular meeting to follow at 6.