ROCKINGHAM — Municipal leaders from across Richmond County are asking commissioners to reconsider how sales taxes are distributed.
On Wednesday, Rockingham Mayor Steve Morris and Hamlet Mayor Bill Bayless went to the county administration building to drop off resolutions from five of the six incorporated municipalities urging commissioners to continue with the per-capita distribution.
The two waited by the front door for several minutes before walking through the drive-thru to drop off the documents, since the county office is closed.
Earlier this month, commissioners voted to to switch up the method from per capita, which is based on population, to ad valorem, which is based on property values.
The decision caught city and town leaders by surprise, just as they were finishing up their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.
The change is expected to cost Rockingham and Hamlet more than $600,000 each, according to Morris and Bayless.
Dobbins Heights Mayor Antonio Blue said in a letter to the state Treasurer’s office that it would cost his town more than $120,000.
In an email response to Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump, County Manager Bryan Land said the decision was, in part, based on recommendations from the state Treasurer’s office “in lieu of raising taxes again.”
However, that seems not to be exactly true.
Sharon Edmundson, director of the Fiscal Management Section of the State and Local Government Finance Division, told Crump in an email that the state did not make a recommendation to the county to modify its sales tax distribution method.
“DST staff was asked by Mr. Land if the distribution method could be modified,” Edmundson said. “DST staff informed Mr. Land that the option was available to the county, but any decision to modify the distribution method should be made in close consultation with, and with sufficient notice given to, the county’s municipalities.
“DST staff is well aware of the significant financial impact such a revision would have on the county’s municipalities, and at no time made a recommendation to the county that it take this action.”
The Richmond Observer will have more on this continuing story.
