Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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“There’s probably not any more important issue that we’re going to face this fall,” County Manager Terry Bralley said during the commissioners meeting last Tuesday.
Last month commissioners approved a resolution that called for a vote by the people on either imposing a land transfer tax up to .4% or a local sales tax up to .25% and that the proceeds would be used solely for capital improvements to Davie schools.
The sales tax would generate approximately $658,000 annually and the land transfer tax would generate approximately $1 million.
Both items will appear on the Nov. 6 municipal election ballot. If both are approved county commissioners would have the authority to levy one of the taxes - but not both.
During the public comments portion of the Sept. 4 meeting Davie resident Bill Foust encouraged commissioners to help make sure residents have a clear understanding of the situation. “This is probably the most important thing that we’ve ever had happen that will directly affect the schools.”
Foust distributed a fact sheet to commissioners that showed reasons why this ballot item will be so important to the county.
Foust said he believed the sales tax was fair because it would affect all Davie residents. “My only concern is that it will impact people on fixed income, but the pain would be much less than a property tax.”
Foust also supported the land transfer tax because it affected only those who sell property. “If you do not sell any property, you will not pay any new tax.”
Foust said that if voters failed to support an alternative revenue tax in November the only option to fixing the school problems would be another property tax increase. “The bottom line is that we have a choice in our November vote. Do we want alternative revenue tax now or do we want additional property taxes in the future? We’re already a high property tax county. Property tax increases create more hardship on fixed income people and should be our last option.
We really need to be good stewards and get out there and do whatever we can to educate everyone as to how important these alternative taxes are and what they’ll do for us and the fact that they’re a lot less expensive than a property tax,” Foust concluded.
Bralley said that alternative tax ... subscribe to the Davie County Enteprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.