School Tax Vote
McCombs-Gardner bill designates 1-cent sales tax revenues for local school construction

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

State House Reps. Eugene McCombs and Charlotte Gardner have introduced a bill that would give Rowan County voters power to levy a 1-cent local sales tax to raise money for school construction.

McCombs says the bill, introduced Tuesday, has four provisions:

- It requires a voter referendum, to be scheduled by county commissioners.

- Revenues from the tax could only go toward school construction or to retire a debt for a school construction project.

- The county could not reduce any of its regular capital appropriation toward school construction, if lawmakers approve the taxing power.

- The tax expires after seven years.

''The thing is, it's still up to the people,'' McCombs said. ''We're not just arbitrarily saying, 'Yes, we're going to tax you.'''

Rowan County Manager Tim Russell said a 1-cent sales tax would generate about $8 million a year. Over seven years, it would address the $60 million in school construction needs identified by the Rowan-Salisbury School System, Russell said. It also could give the school system a 10 percent cushion in rooms for future growth, Russell added.

Lawmakers representing Bladen and Cumberland counties have introduced similar bills for those areas, and commissioners in several other counties are seeking the same option from their lawmakers.

''There are a lot of people talking about it - Cabarrus, Stanly representatives,'' Gardner said.

Cabarrus County voters defeated a somewhat similar local sales tax proposal in February 1998, after organized opposition to the tax.

''I doubt very seriously there will be an effort, at least for Cabarrus County,'' Rep. Richard Moore, D-Cabarrus, said this morning. ''I have no plans to introduce a local option sales tax.''

Russell predicted that the Rowan proposal could be controversial, especially to the cities of Salisbury and Kannapolis and Rowan County's other municipalities.

In the bill introduced by McCombs and Gardner, both Republicans, the Rowan municipalities would not receive any of the revenue generated by the extra 1-cent sales tax. Sales tax revenues represent the second best money source for cites and counties after the property tax.

Salisbury and other Rowan municipalities share in the 2 cents of local option sales tax now in place in Rowan County (in addition to the state's 4-cent sales tax). The bill would ask Salisbury, for example, to forego possibly 30 to 33 percent of the $8 million generated by an additional 1-cent tax, Russell said.

County officials will make a simple argument for allocating all the money toward school construction.

''Schools impact everybody,'' Russell said. ''Schools are everybody's problem.''

Russell noted how important sales tax revenues are to cities and counties. For example, the city's plans to annex two major areas west and south of the city - if they survive challenges in court - will take roughly $250,000 in annual sales tax revenue from the county.

Gardner said she hopes commissioners will schedule a referendum when they expect a large voter turnout. She also fears the local bill might see changes as it goes through the normal legislative process.

''That is always a concern you have,'' Gardner said.

Both Gardner and McCombs said they would not have supported the bill without the referendum provision.