Local-option revenues proving popular in ’08

Also see:

• Alexander voters OK sales tax | 2008 schedule of referendums
• Five counties see sales tax approved by voters
• President's Perspective: All about public education
• Get ready for Round 2
• FAQs on authority & referenda
• County-by-county estimated additional revenues by option (PDF - updated Oct. 1)
• Model resolution for successful sales tax referenda

By Todd McGee
Communications Director

At least 18 counties have decided to pursue in 2008 one of the local-option tax revenues that were granted to counties by the General Assembly last summer.

Gates and Polk counties have announced plans to pursue the land transfer tax option, while Orange and Lee counties have yet to select which option they will pursue. The others have settled on the quarter-cent sales tax option. Cumberland and Greene are going to try the sales tax option again in May after narrow defeats in November, while Henderson and Moore are both going for the sales tax after attempting to pass the land transfer tax in November.

The General Assembly granted these revenue options to counties last year as part of the Medicaid phaseout. Removing the Medicaid burden will free up a significant amount of funds in some counties, which will help those counties meet their rapidly increasing infrastructure needs. But in many counties, the Medicaid swap will not generate enough new revenue to address their infrastructure needs, which is why the General Assembly granted these additional options to all counties.

During a Jan. 24 NCACC seminar on “Strategies for a Successful Referendum,” representatives from four counties where voters approved the sales tax referendum in November shared their lessons learned with county colleagues interested in pursuing one of the options.

Surry County, represented by County Manager Macon Sammons (left), and Sampson County, represented by Vice Chair Jefferson Strickland, Assistant County Manager Susan Holder and County Manager Scott Sauer (far right), were two of five counties that were successful in getting quarter-cent sales tax referendums passed in November 2007. (Photo by Jason King)

Officials in Pitt and Catawba counties had been actively campaigning for several years for a local-option sales tax to help with community capital needs. When the state budget included the two revenue options, the counties immediately put in place citizens action groups that raised money and embarked on campaigns to educate citizens about the need for the new revenue from the sales tax.

According to Catawba County Chair Kitty Barnes, her county identified the 20 largest property taxpayers and recruited them to support the citizens group. Barnes reasoned that this group would benefit the most from any additional revenue source that would lessen the pressure on the property tax. This group formed the backbone of Catawba County Citizens for Tax Fairness.

“We knew we needed to do a media campaign,” Barnes said. “With the short time frame we had, we knew we needed to do a survey.”

The citizens group hired a pollster who surveyed county residents on a number of issues. Barnes said the information gleaned from the survey helped guide the message that resonated with voters.

“What we found was that people felt homeowners had to pay a disproportionate share,” she said. “We decided to use the theme that everybody pays (with the sales tax).”

Pitt County Manager Scott Elliott said his Board of Commissioners didn’t waste any time in going for the sales tax option in November. The county already had in place a citizens group that had been advocating for years for an additional sales tax to meet the county’s school facilities needs, and in 2006, the county had conducted a survey that showed a majority of citizens would support an additional sales tax for schools.

“Opinion polling of your county residents can be beneficial in two respects,” said Mark Hertzog of Hertzog Research, LLC. “It can determine whether or not there is sufficient support to put a measure on the ballot, and then afterward, it can help determine how best to put that issue to your voters during a campaign.”

The original Pitt County advocacy group, which was comprised of representatives of the county, school board and community college, quickly reconstituted itself as a Referendum Advisory Committee and raised more than $14,000 to begin promoting the sales tax option. The Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce helped identify potential donors and supported the effort in the business community.

The Citizens for Education Construction put together a Web site (www.cfec.info), created a speakers bureau to respond to any requests from citizens groups asking for more information, prepared a direct mail piece, wrote letters to the editor in support of the sales tax, created yard signs and advertised on television, radio and in local newspapers.

In Sampson County, where voters overwhelmingly passed the sales tax option in November, the commissioners were actively involved in the education process, said Sampson County Vice Chair Jefferson Strickland. Several years earlier, the Board of County Commissioners and boards of education had adopted a capital facilities plan to meet school capital needs. The $130 million price tag, which also included some county capital needs, was going to require a series of significant property tax increases to pay back the bonds.

“Our commissioners told the citizens about our needs and said it would equal a 30-cent property tax increase without any additional help,” said Sampson County Manager Scott Sauer. “We had lots of school children in trailers. We had a lot of buy-in from the citizens.”

The county developed a one-page brochure about the need for the additional sales tax revenue and distributed it to citizens in the months leading up to the election, said Assistant County Manager Susan Holder. The county and school systems inserted it in their employees’ paychecks, and everyone who checked out a book at the county library system received a copy inserted in their book.

When commissioners were promoting the $134.4 million bond package to pay for the new schools, they pledged that any new revenues made available to the county would be dedicated to paying the debt service to lessen the impact on property taxes. So when the quarter-cent sales tax option became available, it was an easy sell for commissioners, said Strickland.

Strickland and his fellow board members spoke to every citizens group they could find. At the end of his presentation, Strickland would hold up four $1 bills and a penny and tell the audience that for each $4 spent, the new sales tax would only cost them one penny. He urged commissioners to get behind the referendum.

Strickland said that his fellow commissioners were active within their districts, speaking to local civic clubs, church groups, senior citizens groups or any other group that would listen. The commissioners also got on the agendas of municipal meetings within the county.

“You must believe that this is the right thing to do for your community,” Strickland said. “Your belief must be transferred into a commitment that results in some type of action. The message is half the equation, and the attitude of the messenger is the other half. Our commissioners were unanimous in their vote of support for this referendum.”