Opposition to sales tax didn't sway most voters

Thursday, November 05, 2009 6:58 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

By Lee Barnes

lbarnes@salisburypost.com

What do the two separate areas of the county that voted against Rowan's sales tax increase have in common?

Well, they're both politically conservative, but beyond that, your guess is as good as anyone's.

Rowan voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase in Tuesday's election, raising the county's rate to an even 8 cents on the dollar. Countywide, the vote was 5,263 to 4,283, or about 55 percent.

Only two pockets in the county voted against it. The southwest corner of the county, extending east to the Barnhardt Mill area, mostly rejected it. Ditto for an area that includes Spencer, East Spencer, and the East and West Wards.

East Spencer Alderwoman Barbara Mallett, who lost a bid Tuesday to become mayor, is baffled as to why her town voted against the tax.

"When I was campaigning, I was campaigning for the tax first, and myself second," said Mallett, who served as the town's clerk and finance officer for 20 years. "The tax would help everybody, and it even applied to people from outside Rowan who shopped here."

The new tax will add 25 cents to the cost of a $100 purchase in the county. The estimated $2 million per year the tax increase will generate is earmarked for a new jail annex and a federally mandated upgrade of the county's telecommunications system. County officials say the cost of the two projects is about $20 million.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, there was some speculation that any opposition to the tax would be linked to the jail annex's proposed location. But that proved not to be the case, with the three areas mentioned as possible locations for the annex all approving the tax. So much for the NIMBY, or Not in My Back Yard, factor.

County Commissioner Raymond Coltrain conjectures that losing those two areas may have been as simple a matter as a lack of communication.

One of the driving forces behind getting the word out on the tax, Coltrain said, was the Rowan County Fire and Rescue Association, which needs the radio upgrades. Coltrain said he and members of the association visited about 30 civic associations throughout the county to explain the tax. He said the Spencer-East Spencer areas and the southwest area of the county "are not active in the association," and may not have known enough about the tax to support it.

Kannapolis Mayor Robert S. Misenheimer agrees. He says that in the case of his city, he thinks the problem was a lack of understanding.

"It was not explained to Kannapolis residents very well," he said. "The people just didn't understand what it was about."

With two-thirds of Kannapolis being in another county, officials say, winning the hearts and minds of its citizenry may not have been a high priority.

County officials say there was also a perception that the tax was mostly for the benefit of Salisbury, and not the outlying areas.

Carl Ford, chairman of the Rowan commissioners, says the two areas' resistance to the sales tax may be something as fundamental as political philosophy.

"Those are two conservative areas of the county," he said. "They're naturally resistant to more taxes. I understand that — I'm conservative myself."