Editorial: County taxes for a reason

Judging by comments at a Rockwell candidates forum Monday night, Rowan County voters don't know much about the sales-tax increase the county has proposed — except that they don't like it.

The five candidates at the Rockwell forum were well-informed about a lot of things, but when Dr. Michael Bitzer asked how they felt about the tax proposal, none of them knew what the county planned to use the money from the increase for. They wanted to be assured it was a good cause with complete accountability. Some just said flat-out it was a bad time for a tax increase, regardless of the reason.

If the candidates in Rockwell don't know what commissioners have in mind, chances are most other voters don't know, either. The question is, will that matter?

For the record, commissioners agreed unanimously in early August to put the increase on the Nov. 3 ballot. It's .25 percent — that's one-fourth of 1 percent, or 2.5 cents on a $10 purchase. County officials say that should generate enough revenue to cover payments on two big projects — a $6 million jail annex mandated by the state and $12 million worth of towers and radios mandated by federal changes. The county would get an $18 million loan and pay it back over 10 years at $2 million a year.

Kind of makes one-fourth of 1 percent sound small.

But the increase might as well be a 10 percent, as far as some people are concerned. Once you say "increase," the number doesn't much matter to them.

If voters reject the quarter-cent tax, County Manager Gary Page says commissioners would have to find another way to finance the jail and communications system — either cut $2 million of current services or raise property taxes by 2 cents per $100 valuation.

If voters approve the tax increase, it would go into effect in April 2010, and the county would receive the first payment in July.

When the county board considered placing the increase on the ballot, Chairman Carl Ford said the county had no choice in providing the emergency equipment and jail. "We're giving people a choice. If they vote it down, we'll go back to the drawing board and see where we can get the money."

The property tax increase sounds like the bigger threat. You can control your shopping and how much you spend at the store; you cannot control the value of your property or what the county charges you in property taxes.

By law, the county cannot promote the sales-tax increase and tell people to vote "yes." All Rowan officials can do is put the information about the proposal out there and let people weigh the pros and cons. If county officials really believe in this proposal, they need to get to it. Some of the county's most involved citizens have no idea what this is all about.