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County seeks input on sales tax uses

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Staff

The Orange County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Aug. 17 on potential uses for funds from a proposed one-quarter cent sales tax increase.

The board voted unanimously in June to put the sales-tax option on the November ballot but delayed a decision on how the money would be allocated in order to give the public a chance to weigh in. If voters approve the referendum, the tax should generate about $2.3 million annually, according to county estimates.

In its 2007 budget, the legislature gave counties the option of a quarter-cent sales-tax increase or a 0.4 percent land-transfer tax to help compensate for money taken away when the responsibility for paying for Medicaid was turned over to the state. As a result of that budget, counties lost state-supplied school-construction money and some sales-tax revenue.

Orange County voters overwhelmingly rejected a transfer-tax referendum in May 2008.
If voters approve the sales-tax increase, the Orange County sales-tax rate, applicable to all goods and services except food and medicine, will increase from 7.75 to 8 percent. The revenue it produces will not be shared with the state or local municipalities.

County officials are eager to explore new revenue sources for Orange County, as property tax makes up more than 75 percent of the county’s total revenue. Board members have mentioned economic development, schools, debt service and libraries as possible priorities for funding with the sales-tax revenue increase.

The public hearing will be held during the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. at the county Department of Social Services office at 113 Mayo St. in Hillsborough.

—Staff Reports

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