Lee, Rowan voters OK sales tax

• Revenue option referendum results since November 2007

By Todd McGee
Communications Director

Voters in Lee and Rowan counties each approved quarter-cent sales tax referendums Nov. 3, bringing to 10 the number of counties that have passed the revenue option since it was granted to counties by the General Assembly in 2007. The sales tax option and a land transfer tax option of up to 0.4 percent were part of the Medicaid relief package included in the state budget in 2007 after an extensive lobbying effort led by the Association to relieve counties of the Medicaid burden.

Voters in Lee County approved the measure by nearly a 2-1 margin, with 3,799 voters voting yes and 1,910 voted against the measure, according to unofficial results. Commissioners in Lee County have pledged to use the revenues to pay for a much-needed $19.5 million renovation and expansion at Lee County High School.

"The Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners were pretty unified in what the money would be used for, so there weren't any squabbles about where the money would go," said Lee County Manager John Crumpton. "This time, the Board of Education and the county commissioners pretty much turned this over to a citizens group to run, and they went out and recruited people door-to-door to be a part of it. Having the citizen involvement is probably what carried the day."

The local chapter of Americans For Prosperity got involved in trying to defeat the referendum and received more than $12,000 from the national organization to finance the campaign, said Crumpton. Even though the organization mounted an expensive – and according to Crumpton, misleading – media campaign against the sales tax, citizens overwhelmingly supported the measure.

In Rowan County, more than 55 percent of those voting approved the measure. Commissioners have pledged to use the revenues to pay for a new annex at the county jail and to pay for new telecommunications equipment.

"When I came 18 months ago, we talked about the need for new jail facilities … and we talked about the need to update all of our radios," said County Manager Gary Page. "We also had problems with dead spots in the county. We had trouble advising emergency services people where to go. To fix that problem with the radios, we were going to need to build three new towers.

"These were public safety issues. The jail and radio equipment are something that everybody benefits from."

Combined, the jail and emergency communications equipment will cost about $18 million, Page said. He estimated that the sales tax will generate approximately $2 million per year – enough to pay the debt service for the next 10 years.

Page said the county did not have a formal organization supporting the effort, but he said that he and the members of the Board of Commissioners spoke to dozens of civic clubs, and appeared on radio call-in programs and local TV newscasts to encourage citizens to support the effort. He also said that the county explained to the local fire departments that the county would not be able to afford the equipment upgrades without an additional revenue stream.

"The firemen were all supportive. They knew the only way they would get replacement radios and not have to raise their individual fire taxes was to support this," said Page.

Lee County previously tried to pass the measure in May 2008. It was the first time that Rowan County commissioners had put the option on the ballot.

Voters in Harnett County rejected the measure.