County commission sets vote on sales tax hike for Oct. 16

The Alleghany County Board of Commissioners agreed by consensus to bring a one-half cent sales tax to a vote at their Oct. 16 meeting.

Earlier this year, the commissioners voted to approve the tax for July 2003, when it was originally to have taken effect.

However, state budget actions now allow for the new tax to take effect on Dec. 1, 2002, thus requiring another vote. A public hearing was held on the matter earlier, drawing only positive comments from those in attendance. Another public hearing is not planned.

The new half-cent tax would raise sales taxes here to 7 percent at least through July 2003, when a one-half cent tax put in place by the state is to 'sunset,' or end. When that happens, the tax rate would return to its current rate of 6.5 percent (six and one-half cents per dollar).

However, future action by the General Assembly could lead that half-cent tax to remain in place. Whether or not that tax continues would not affect this county, commissioners noted.

County Manager Don Adams said the new tax could mean almost $200,000 in revenues for the county, using current sales figures. However, the county lost about $272,000 due to the state keeping inventory tax reimbursements that were due to counties.

During the budget process, the county froze several budgets, including all special appropriations budgets — the library, rescue squad, forest service and others.

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back