Restaurant tax pays to treat water

I paid $1.04 for a 99-cent double cheeseburger the other day at McDonald's restaurant in Ashland. I forgot about the city tax on restaurant food - why was that tax initiated in the first place? Since initiation, how much has been collected and where has it been spent?

- Eric N., Medford

Ashland voters approved the tax in March 1993 to raise money to acquire open space - and after a public hearing by the City Council in May 1993 - to pay for state-required improvements in city wastewater treatment.

Of the five cents levied on each dollar sold of prepared food and beverages, one cent goes to open space and four cents to wastewater treatment improvements. The tax survived a repeal attempt in November 1993.

From July 1, 1993, to June 30 of this year, the tax is projected to produce $5,445,006.