By April Bethea
abethea@charlotteobserver.com

Mecklenburg County voters won’t be asked this fall to consider a quarter-cent increase to the local sales tax.

County Commissioner George Dunlap wanted his colleagues to discuss putting a tax referendum on the November ballot, saying it could be a way to raise additional money for libraries, schools or other county services. The tax could raise an estimated $28 million a year.

But commissioners didn’t vote or even debate, the topic late Tuesday because no board member seconded Dunlap’s motion calling for the referendum. That means the tax is off the table for this year because it is highly unlikely any commissioner will bring it up again.

The board’s eight other member have said they weren’t in favor of a tax referendum in November because they felt it could overburden residents and hurt the county’s recovery post-recession. Some also noted that at 8.25 percent, Mecklenburg already has the state’s highest sales tax.

In introducing the proposal Tuesday, Dunlap chided some media reports that he was pushing for a sales tax increase and that, in his opinion, overstated the cost of the tax on residents.

Dunlap said he has not come out for or against the tax. Instead he said he just wanted to give the public a chance to vote on the issue, adding residents don’t get to decide many other issues coming before commissioners.

“There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing,” he said. “Give citizens the opportunity to have their say.”

The county has had the option to ask for a quarter-cent increase since 2007, but the issue has only come up for a board vote twice.

Two years ago, the tax was touted as a possible way to raise money for crime-fighting. But after initially saying they’d put a referendum on a ballot, commissioners would back away from the idea after getting a cool reception from the public and worries about whether the county could get permission to earmark the money for a specific use.
 

Sign up for our Weekly Email Newsletter Email: For Email Marketing you can trust

Other Ways to Share Twitter Del.icio.us MySpace

Discussions and Submission Agreement