In a down economy, when people are suffering, it seems an increase in the sales tax for Pell City would be a last resort for officials.

But the mayor and council appear to be pushing ahead toward a vote Monday on raising the sales tax by a penny to 10 percent with half going to the city and half going to the School System.

One by one, citizens headed to the microphone in Pell City Council Chamber Saturday morning. And what they said was not what conventional wisdom would have you believe. For the most part, they spoke in favor of the tax.

About 200 people, heavily weighted toward education interests, packed the chamber, and the majority of those speaking on behalf of the city School System pushed for the sales tax hike. Their heartfelt emotions were obvious, and they made compelling cases for new revenue to replace back-to-back years of deep cuts and a recession that has hit the School System hard.

Business people, though few in number, made equally compelling cases. They spoke of lost business to other towns that have cheaper sales tax. They talked of the regressive nature of a sales tax — a tax that hits the poorest hardest and goes up when times are good and south when times are bad.

Both sides are right, which makes the issue with which the administration is grappling a difficult one at best.

What is questionable is the city’s side. Mayor Bill Hereford and the council cite as reasons for the tax hike — obligations to buy water from the Coosa Valley Water Supply District, a pledge for building the new hospital and to pay for improvements to the sewer system.

Those were commitments made as far back as two administrations ago and as the country emerges from a recession with major projects on the horizon for the city, the case for a permanent tax that reverts to the city in whole four years from now just wasn’t made.

Meanwhile, the mayor continues his quest to buy the multi-million dollar Avondale property for a new library and a park at the same time he is predicting deficits through 2014.

Those variables paint drastically different pictures.

We agree that schools need the money. And while we do not generally agree with a regressive sales tax to fund them, we do think the only convincing argument Saturday came from the School System.

It may be a better route to look at rescuing the schools with a temporary tax of the full cent and let the city — which is in the black right now with a surplus — wait and see just how dire the economic picture looks in the future before it imposes a permanent tax for itself.