White County Steering Committee members voted to lower property taxes should a sales tax increase be passed in the upcoming referendum.
The proposal would increase the county’s share of the sales tax from 2.25 percent to 2.75 percent on every $100 spent. That would match what consumers already pay in Sparta. With early voting starting next week, several commissioners, including Commissioner TK Austin, said the commission is running out of time to show its intentions.
“We need to determine a plan as to whether we are going to put part of this money back and give a break on land tax, whether we are gonna pave roads with it,” Austin said. “We need to give a purpose for this.”
Austin said it looks bad on the commission to discuss a sales tax increase without having a plan. Commissioner Kyle Goff said lowering property taxes might be the only way voters would pass the proposal.
“It’s got to include the property tax break,” Goff said. “That is the only way it is going to carry any weight at the ballot.”
During its Steering Committee meeting, Commissioners also discussed the limitations of passing a resolution making binding financial commitments before revenue is secured. Goff said the recommendation could complicate the budget process.
“It would be hard to bind our current budget committee,” Goff said. “We are gonna put something together out of this committee that handcuffs you guys next month when you start looking at all the requests that come in.”
A motion was made and seconded to recommend that all revenue generated from the proposed sales tax be used to lower property taxes. The motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Dakota White said the commission now turns to marketing to get the word out to the public. Austin said the sales tax proposal is capturing tax dollars that already exist.
“People are paying this already,” Austin said. “This is not a new tax. They are paying this tax and getting nothing for it. The city is getting the full benefit of paving streets out here, and we are getting nothing, nothing out of it. And this would be somewhere between $800,000 to $1,000,000 projected that should be in the county general.”
