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Election 2008
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Wednesday, May 07, 2008, 11:33 AM
Nash: Tax hike a no By Hilary Hellens | Daily Times Staff Writer Voters in Nash County, like those in Wilson and Wayne counties, overwhelmingly defeated a quarter-cent sales tax increase Tuesday. More than 60 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the sales tax referendum, 14,722, voted against it. About 39 percent of the votes cast, 9,326, supported the sales tax increase, which would have generated about $2.8 million a year for the county. Nash County Commissioner Robbie Davis, who had supported the tax, said he thought the referendum was defeated because people are struggling in hard economic times. "I think that has a whole lot to do with it," he said. "When people are struggling to pay for the gas to get to work, they certainly don't want any tax of any kind, and I can certainly understand that." Commissioner Danny Tyson, who also supported the sales tax increase, said this morning that the referendum defeat will cause commissioners to sit back down and reassess their plans. If the tax had been approved, commissioners had said they planned to spend 80 percent of the funds raised by the tax increase on public schools and community college projects and the other 20 percent on public safety and community facilities projects. "We will have to sit down and discuss our options.," Tyson said. "It is a little early to say what we can do." Tyson said that raising property taxes is the last thing commissioners want to do, but he added that, "You can't really make a decision until you see what your fellow commissioners want to do." Mildred Louise Bailey who was eating lunch at The Bailey Cafe Tuesday, said the current economic situation was her reason for being against the tax. "I don't believe they ought to raise anything because of gas prices," she said. "No taxes on anything ever." Dietra Sessoms, who was voting in Bailey, also cited the high gas prices as being a reason why she didn't vote for the tax. She also thought they should be able to find money from somewhere for the schools, like the N.C. lottery. "They said the lottery was going to help education so they should be able to get money from there," she said. Virginia Finch, who was voting in Bailey, said she voted against the tax increase because she said she thinks the money would go toward the northern end of the county and the southern end of the county wouldn't reap any benefits. Billy Crumel of Middlesex said he didn't vote for the tax because he didn't know what the tax was going to be used for. "I could have made a more informed decision, if I had known," he said. Many of those who voted for the tax said that education was their main reason. "I voted for it to get more help with education," said Timothy Deans who had just cast his ballot in Bailey. Bobby Bissette, who was hanging out in a hardware store in Middlesex on Tuesday, said he voted for it because he thought it was a fair tax. "I think that's the fairest way to tax people in comparison to property tax," he said. Shelly Woodruff, who is Bailey's assistant town clerk, said she thought the tax was a good thing because people wouldn't really notice much of a difference in their purchases. hilary@wilsontimes.com | 265-7868
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