A proposed White County sales tax increase will be sent to referendum in May after the county commission approved a resolution Tuesday night.
The proposal would raise the county’s share of the sales tax from 2.25 to 2.75 percent for every $100 spent. That change would not increase the total sales tax rate for shoppers, which would remain 9.75 percent in Sparta. Commissioner TK Austin said the difference is how the money is divided.
“If we vote this in, it will not increase any more than 9.75,” Austin said. “All it means is that we will get half of that half of a percent instead of giving it all to the city.”
Austin said most of the county’s sales tax revenue comes from inside the Sparta city limits. Commissioner Dakota White said he was for sending the proposal to a referendum, as it gives the people the power to vote.
“That’s what I like about it,” White said. “We are all founded on democracy, so here we go. If we can get people to the ballot box, that would be great.”
Commissioner Cain Rogers reminded the commission that Sparta residents cannot vote on the referendum.
The commission stated that how the increased sales tax revenue would be spent has yet to be determined. Though Commissioner Chris Brewington voted for the referendum, he questioned the increase.
“I’ve got my doubts and thoughts about it, and I just feel like you know, if we are gonna be getting more tax money in here, it can’t keep going to the same fund that it always goes to, the general fund,” Brewington said. “Cause as you know, and the rest of us commissioners know, we 14 commissioners right here are all liars because we keep doing the same old same old thing, and we keep kicking the same old can down the road. If we are gonna set one thing and do it, we need to do it instead of talk about it, and talk about it, and talk about it. I just feel like we should have already had a work session before we come tonight to vote on it.”
The commission had a tight deadline to pass the resolution for the proposed increase to be on the election ballot in May. The commission unanimously passed the resolution, with four commissioners being absent. County commissioners plan to hold a work session on February 2 to discuss how a potential sales tax increase would be used.
In other business, the commission approved a new pay plan that ties commissioners’ pay to meeting attendance. Commissioner Robert McCormick said the Ethics and Oversight Committee created the formula to address ongoing attendance problems. A similar proposal was rejected last month.
Under the new plan, commissioners will earn about $31 for missing all monthly meetings. They will earn about $109 for attending committee meetings and another $109 for attending the full commission meeting.
Previously, commissioners were paid $250 a month, no matter how many meetings they attended.