Voters to decide on sales tax increase
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 18, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Commissioner Joe Gurley's motion to add a quarter-cent sales tax referendum to the Nov. 6 ballot was unanimously approved during the board's Tuesday meeting.
Wayne County voters will decide in November whether to support an increase in sales taxes to support local education needs.
The Nov. 6 general election ballot will include a referendum to increase the local option sales tax by one-quarter cent, meaning that for each $100 of taxable goods purchased, a person would pay an additional 25 cents.
The sales tax would be levied on items on which sales tax is already paid, excluding gas, prescription medication and non-prepared foods or groceries.
The tax 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 county property tax rate.
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday morning unanimously approved a motion by Commissioner Joe Gurley to instruct the Wayne County Board of Elections to place the question on the ballot.
The resolution calling for the vote also stipulates that the board intends to use the revenues for education.
"There are a lot of needs, educational needs out there -- a lot of brick and mortar that we need, teacher supplement pay, we have got to take a close look at it," Gurley said. "So we kind of have time now where we can gather some facts.
"But we need to push the torch for that November election. We need to encourage everybody to get out and vote for it."
Another priority in schools is safety, and that is going to be a big major concern as well, he said.
County Manager Craig Honeycutt reminded commissioners that the sales tax surfaced during their June budget discussions about how they could look at additional funding sources for public education, which includes Wayne Community College and Wayne County Public Schools.
There is a constant need for funds for items such as teacher supplements, additional classrooms or renovations, Honeycutt said.
"We cannot specifically state on the ballot that it is for education," he said. "However, we can pass by resolution that it is the intent of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners to use the quarter cent for education."
The ballot will not include any indication on how the money will be used by the county -- voters will simply mark "For" or "Against."
Even if the sales tax is approved, commissioners do not have to implement it.
In preparing the county's budget for fiscal year 2018-19, Honeycutt initially recommended a 2.65-cent property tax increase.
The additional tax revenue would have been used to offset 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 not only restored in the new state budget, but was increased by nearly $700,000 in recurring dollars over the current level.
It was at that point in June that Gurley urged the board to dump its support of a property tax increase in favor of the sales tax, which he called a fairer tax since everyone pays it.
Honeycutt went back to the budget and cut another $2.1 million as commissioners shifted from support of a property tax increase to favoring the sales tax.
In their resolution, commissioners said they believe the education of the children and youth of Wayne County is a critical mission and priority.
According to the resolution, the county is facing "extraordinary funding pressures" resulting from public education needs.
It adds that 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 continues 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."