Commissioners eye sales tax increase
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 16, 2018 5:50 AM
Wayne County voters could decide the fate of a possible one-quarter cent sales tax when they go to the polls this November.
Wayne County commissioners are expected to start the process Tuesday when they consider approval of a resolution directing the Wayne County Board of Elections to place an advisory referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.
A decision on the resolution is expected during the board's Tuesday meeting that will get under way with an 8 a.m. agenda briefing, followed by the formal session at 9 a.m.
Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
In their initial discussions last month, commissioners said they prefer a sales tax over an increase in property taxes.
The sales tax would be levied on items on which sales tax is already paid and would not apply to food.
The implementation of a one-quarter cent local option sales tax -- excluding gas, prescription medication and non-prepared foods or groceries -- is anticipated to generate approximately $2.3 million in revenue per year in Wayne County, which would be the equivalent of approximately 3 cents on the property tax rate.
For each $100 of taxable goods purchased, a person would pay an additional 25 cents.
Commissioners said they want the tax revenue to be used for education, but Wayne County Attorney Borden Parker has told commissioners they can indicate what they want to use the tax revenues for.
If the referendum is added to the November ballot, voters will be asked to select yes or no for the one-quarter cent sales tax. The ballot will not include any indication on how the money will be used by the county.
Even if the sales tax is approved, commissioners do not have to implement it.
In their resolution calling for the vote, commissioners say they believe the education of the children and youth of Wayne County is a critical mission and priority. It adds that the county is faced with "extraordinary funding pressures" resulting from public education needs.
According to the resolution, the 2014 state budget rewrote the lottery statutes and eliminated the 40 percent statutory guarantee of net lottery proceeds for school construction, which was a dedicated funding stream in place since the lottery's inception in 2005.
Commissioners note that the county has provided more than $80 million over the past five years for new school construction and continue to fund maintenance and pay debt obligations.
They also note in the resolution that additional school resource officers have been approved for the schools and that Wayne Community College officials have expressed an immediate need for resources "to address strategic facilities planning, infrastructure and workforce development needs of the citizens of Wayne County."
County Manager Craig Honeycutt initially recommended a 2.65-cent property tax increase for fiscal year 2018-19, citing a need to cover the loss of low-wealth school funding, additional school resource officers, an increase in teacher supplements and to ease the demand on the budget's fund balance.
However, the low-wealth school funding was was not only restored in the new state budget, but was increased by nearly $700,000 in recurring dollars over the current level.
That set the stage for commissioners to reverse their earlier support of a property tax increase.
To lessen the need for a tax increases even more, the board agreed with Honeycutt's recommendation to cut the $500,000 for a proposed one-half of a percent increase for teacher supplements; $200,000 from EMS operations; $400,000 from WayneNET; $100,000 from the Will Sullivan building renovations; and $100,000 for the Goldsboro Industrial Campus.
The cuts totaled $2.1 million, the amount that would have been raised by the proposed property tax increase.
Also on the agenda Tuesday is an update by David Harris of RMS Harris Associates on the county's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program. The county has contracted with the company to manage the grant.
Grants from the program will help with housing repairs, homeowner reimbursement and other housing-related issues. It is funded by the federal government through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. Applications for that fund are being accepted through ReBuild NC Application Centers.
In other business, commissioners will consider motions to approve construction bids for four EMS stations and for a shell building at ParkEast. The board also will look at possible changes to the operating hours at the Wayne County Landfill in Dudley.
Currently, it is open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Beginning Sept. 4., the schedule could be changed to include hours on Wednesday. It also would change the daily operations hours to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. There has also been discussion about the possibility of opening up the county's 13 convenience center sites on Wednesdays as well.
"We are in the process of analyzing the hours to see if by adjusting hours, we could open without any major costs to the county," Honeycutt said in a memo to commissioners. "We currently use part-time employees at the site, and if we increased their hours, it would push many of the attendants to full-time status."
Commissioners also will reconvene as the Wayne County Board of Equalization and Review.
Consent agenda items include: Applications for Elderly or Disabled Exclusion and for Disabled Veterans Exclusion; budget amendments; motion to approve short-term interfund loans; and motion to approve the quitclaim deed to Deloris S. Price and Priscilla S. Ford.
Public comments will start at 9:05 a.m. Speakers will have four minutes to comment on their topic of choice.