Say what you will about the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, but they don’t know how to take no for an answer.
At least not when it comes to sales tax increases.
That’s obvious because, many times before, the county commissioners have asked voters to approve a quarter-cent hike in the sales tax, and, time and again, the voters have said absolutely not.
The county can only increase the sales tax if voters approve it.
And the already heavily taxed citizens of the county and the cities within it, haven’t wanted to see this tax increase implemented.
At the board’s Thursday, April 18, afternoon work session, the Board of Commissioners didn’t officially vote to put the sales tax on the ballot, but the discussion made it clear the board is going to take another shot at getting voter approval on the November 2024 ballot.
Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston told the Rhino Times last year that he and other commissioners once again wanted to put a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the ballot in 2024, and, at the commissioners’ work session last week, county staff presented the timeline for what’s inevitably coming before voters later this year.
The quarter-cent sales tax increase, if it does pass, would give the board an estimated extra $25 million to spend. That’s up from the $20-million estimate that was being spoken about two years ago when the measure failed.
In 2022, the board put a historically large $1.7 billion school bond referendum on the ballot, and it also put the sales tax increase option on the ballot, with the idea that the money from the sales tax could help pay the bond debt.
Of course, as anyone could have predicted – because the county’s voters love school kids but don’t love taxes – they voted to approve the gigantic school bond, but voted down the method that was supposed to help pay the money back.
The timeline for the process this year was presented by county staff to the commissioners at the April 18 work session.
By August 1, the Board of Commissioners will notify the local and state boards of elections that it intends to place the sales tax referendum on the ballot.
The PowerPoint presentation from county staff optimistically stated the next step: “November 5, 2024, ‘Obtain voter approval in non-binding advisory referendum.’”
Then, once that passes, on December 9, 2024, the county will provide 10 days of public notice of the intent to adopt a resolution levying the new tax.
On December 30, the county will forward the adopted resolution to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Then, on April 1, 2025, the collection of the new tax will begin.
So, on April Fool’s Day next year, sales taxes will increase – provided voters have a change of heart from all the times in the past when they’ve voted down the same sales tax hike.
Alston said last year that one promising way to convince voters to approve the measure is to commit the money toward “higher pay for teachers and other school employees.”
Alston added that that could make the sales tax increase much more palatable for voters than it would it is committed to school bond debt.
“They say they love the teachers so much and they deserve higher pay,” he said last year, “Well, here’s $20 million a year for that purpose.”
Nope
We don’t love commissioner trips to DC to rub elbows with DC scum…we don’t love developers ruining the county landscape…we don’t love crime rates….fix that first then tell us what we love
How much more can people take of this. We are already taxed to death. Property tax unreal, personal property tax, state tax, car and tag tax on and on. We live within our means, so the government should also.
BS Skip. I hope the voters of Guilford County have a little sense and don’t want to be screwed again. Vote NO.
Fools.
Uh, NO!!!!!!
Voters and taxpayers, please keep your eyes and ears open to this! I say taxpayers, because most of the people who will vote yes do not pay taxes and love to able to spend your money without question. Pease stay strong and do not let these other people’s money spenders have their way, while all the time telling you what a great job they are doing.
Emperor Skip doesn’t think that we poor ignorant plebes realize that MONEY IS FUNGIBLE!!!!! So he takes the money he WOULD have used to pay off the bonds, to spend on his other many pet projects. Too bad that we did not get to vote on property tax increases!!
They are already collecting a lot more money from the record property tax increase. Unfortunately, Skippy and all the other high tax, high spend representatives will keep getting elected. Absent the high property tax increase, I would vote for the sales tax increase for two reasons: 1> People coming here from from outside the county for shopping, entertainment, restaurants and motels are helping pay the tax and 2> We really won’t notice. If you spend $100 for something, the sales tax will be a quarter (twenty-five cents) higher. If you vote for bonds, you should vote for a means to repay.
The tax increase collected from Guilford outsiders will be about 25% of the total collected. The rest will be collected from Guilford County residents. Why would County Commissioners propose selling bonds that they have no means to repay without a tax increase? Why would Guilford County residents vote for the bonds when 50% of the county budget already goes to schools? Guilford County schools are subpar. Why would someone want to pay higher taxes for subpar schools? A picture of schools in need as painted by Skip Alston, Deena Hayes, Jill Wilson, and Roy Cooper (UNC-Chapel Hill roommate with Jill Wilson’s husband) is a false picture. If the students in the Guilford County schools are our future, God help us all.
The Libertarian in me says I’ll be happy to vote for a fair sales tax if the City/County/State will eliminate payroll & property taxes. Otherwise, go pound sand until you can properly spend what you already steal from us!
It was once proposed that if other payroll taxes were eliminated, a sales tax of around 24% would fund all things Federal, State & Local with a surplus for each and pay off the deficit in one lifetime. Neal Boortz was right.
The threat is, of course, if you don’t approve the sales tax; then look forward to higher property taxes & fees.
Miller you are right. If skip doesn’t get his way we will see a property tax increase next year.
Yeah, I can see it now; property tax increase, then the next re-evaluation. We will have blue state property taxes. Get out now!
Pass a 50 cent sales tax we are a growing, municipality and need the revenues for not only teacher pay put for additional programs for the homeless and displaced I will be urging everyone I know to vote for the tax increase so we can be a premier destination for teachers!
BigCity, your handle should be BigGovernment. Guilford County will never be a “premier destination” for anything.
TermLimits you are exactly right. Anybody who thinks otherwise is dreaming.
BigCity works in the school system.
So, obviously, he agitates for more money for himself and his buddies.
And he sees everything through a racial lens (he’s black, with a chip on his shoulder).
***********
You know what’s strange? We’re never offered a vote on REDUCING taxes, are we?
***********
You know what else is strange? I’ve lived here for 40 years and for the entire time teachers have been whining about how they deserve ever bigger salaries and more benefits. Their average salary is now well over $50,000 a year (except it’s not even a year. They work 9 months).
***********
You know what else is strange? NC’s economy has grown massively in 40 years, allowing the state to reduce taxes and still reap more revenue. But in 1983 our Sales Tax was 4% statewide. Now it’s nearly twice that.
Why is government so greedy?
Pure, unalloyed, unmitigated greed.
Austin you bring up a question I have. When has the county or city proposed anything that would save the taxpayer any money. I am 76 and do not think I have ever seen this. All they want is to take our money, pay themselves, save pet projects and get votes while all the time thinking they are doing us a favor that we should be glad they are here for us.
You’re right Maurice. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. So it’s obvious that people who have seized the power to reach into everyone’s pocket will use it to enrich themselves and their buddies. They have to disguise their venality and rapacity by controlling the language, so as to manipulate how we think of them. So they portray themselves as “public servants” and their obese, self-serving empires as “the public sector”., and “public schools”. But I don’t own a single brick of a single school, or bureaucracy’s building. Do you? No, these are more truthfully called The Parasitic Sector and Government Schools.
Like all government, they exist for their own benefit, not ours.
The alleged purpose for their existence is just the fig leaf they use to enrich themselves and expand their power. The Department of Homeland Security is an excellent example (our “homeland” is much less secure than when it was created in 2003, but they have a quarter million employees and an annual budget of $51 BILLION).
Vote “Not only no but hell no” on any tax increases. Need to start an effort to place a referendum on next ballot to roll back real estate taxes to neutral impact from last reassessments.
Baloney!!! This money will also give them a hefty increase on salary. Do we have “stupid” written across our forehead? Yeah, the lottery was supposed to benefit schools also. How is that going? Proverbs 26:24 “Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit.”
Ponzi scheme, with a dose of mis-direction and deceit.
Just vote no. Cut wasterful spending and you don’t need a tax increase.
I do not see any way that the hardworking taxpayers of Guilford County are going to approve an increase of their contributions to the demoncrats ruling this county.
Anyone with any knowledge of their spending would however approve a reduction in sale taxes, property taxes or any of the other ways they drain our pocketbooks.
I don’t know, has there EVER been a decrease in county spending??
April Fools, Skip. Ain’t goin’ pass. We say, “NO”.
How about the windfall property tax increase that the county is raking in? Has Skippy and company already spent all of it?
Yep.
It’s all been “designated”.
Keep in mind we have a large college student population who are allowed to vote on local issues (read spending/tax increases) who don’t care because they will be gone.
BigCity, your handle should be BigGovernment. Guilford County will never be a “premier destination” for anything.
So true and that is why a driver’s license should be the only form of ID. If no driver’s license, then some other valid proof of NC residency. Student IDs with a local address should not be allowed; too easily faked.
Students housed here temporarily should not be allowed to vote in local elections. That is just wrong. Of course, it is allowed for a specific purpose and if you have any common sense, you know why it is allowed.
Government relentless effort to get more money from us reminds me of an old saying. . . . .”A fool and his money are soon parted”
Vote NO on any referendum on increasing the sales tax.
This article says to me, don’t trust what the Commissioners say the money would go to, which equals a NO Vote to give anymore money for anything.
Don’t you mean ‘Commissars’?
Nope voting NO.
Our Government Schools’ “educators” are grossly incompetent. America’s high school students consistently rank around 27th or 28th in global ranking.
They bleat that they just want to be paid what they’re worth. Okay, let their remuneration be adjusted so that they’re the 27th best paid teachers in the World.
Fair enough?
I mean Guilford county trying to squeeze 25 million from sales tax… I mean how desperate are they they just raised property tax last year for the second straight year in a row they’re like vampires trying to get the last bit of blood out of people. It just looks like they’re desperate and looking for any kind of way they can to make people pay more money it just gets freaking ridiculous at some point like now… They got stop lights at intersections all over town that just hold you there for no reason unless it’s Rush hour… I mean how much gas and time and money is wasted on this s*** waiting at a f****** light where no cars are turning???? I mean do something for the people if you want to take more money from us fix your roads you have roads that stay unfixed for two and three years. I’ll be out of here in a year or two anyway it’s gotten way too crowded here for me and way too many greedy Guilford county commissioners. You don’t really have to be that smart to see what they’re trying to do all the time!
Agreed!
And roundabouts (traffic circles) allow all vehicles to proceed when the way is clear, still work fine when the power fails, and are cheaper, and cost nothing to maintain.
Traffic moves faster and more efficiently, and it costs less.
Spread the word to vote NO! Take a friend with you to vote NO! Skip Alston and Deena Hayes are desperate to pass the tax increase. You know the old adage: Desperate people do desperate things.
Mr. Morris, I agree completely that our public schools are in desperate need of improvement, but as the mother of a veteran public school teacher, I will tell you that my daughter is not “grossly incompetent” in anyway. For over 20 years, she has strived to do her best for the children in her class. I have served as a volunteer in her kindergarten classroom and witnessed her professional manner and her care for the children. Today’s teachers face many daunting issues. Just recently a teacher was attacked at Parkland High School in Winston-Salem. My daughter has been kicked, punched, slapped, and had personal property damaged by children in her charge; yes, by kindergarten children. Violence in schools is increasing and, overall, the school system is doing a poor job controlling it. Every year more children are coming to school with significant learning disabilities, serious behavior issues, and who are just plain undisciplined. Too many of today’s parents are clueless and irresponsible. The administrators of public schools seem to have little understanding of the real issues and are more concerned about being “politically correct.” Yes, public education is failing on many levels, but my daughter is NOT “grossly incompetent” and has been dedicated to her profession for many years.
Do not take comments personally. Your description of what happens in schools is correct. Parents and the public do not understand what goes on inside those school walls. An acquaintance took her daughter out of Northern High School because of fights and disruptions. She is now in private school. School administrators hide the real story. Students should not be allowed in public schools unless they can speak English to be understood. There should be no obligation to teach students the English language. This takes away from other students. Learn English at the parents’ expense, and then enroll. We cannot be a welfare state for all. How much of the school budget is spent on teaching English to non-English speaking kids? There should be no obligation to teach unruly children. Unruly children have no right to disrupt the learning of kids who are disciplined and want to learn. There should be no exception. If the unruly kids are mostly Black, so be it. That’s not racist, that just means that most of the unruly kids are Black. Cries of discrimination are just a failure to face the true cause of failure.
—–
Thank you for your comment.
I agree that there are many decent and proficient school teachers. My mother was one of them, in Bath & Bristol in the UK.
But the US system is chronically and constitutionally flawed. As you point out, there is no discipline – because teachers are prevented from imposing it! My high school (Leeds Grammar School) was founded in 1552 and seemed to embrace the same ancient values in 1972, when I was admitted. Corporal Punishment was routine, and not remarked upon.
But it gave me a great education, and our masters (teachers) were amazingly unique characters. That’s why parents scrimped and saved, and prayed their sons would pass the entrance exam to the best school in the North of England.
The pertinent point here is that it was a PRIVATE SCHOOL (a public school, in British parlance). There as here, the privately run schools were far, far better than the pathetic Government Schools.
And that is why a fundamental reform is needed here, The Government Schools are incapable of reforming themselves. The fat and happy education bureaucrats simply won’t allow it, nor will their co-conspiritors in the Democratic Party who just want unthinking Democrat voters – which Government Schools reliably turn out. Schools here don’t teach kids how to think, they teach kids what to think.
Our Government Schools are a cesspit of incompetence, indifference, and inadequacy, and there is no fixing them. We shall be overtaken by Third World countries (like India) who have a functioning, superior education system for their children. And whose educators are paid a fraction of ours.
The US “public school system” exists for the benefit of those who work in it, not for the kids.
And that is a tragedy and a travesty.
You sir have hit the proverbial nail right on the head. Your comments regarding the public school system in this country are well taken and extremely accurate. I agree with your assessment 100 percent. My late mother retired from teaching and would roll over in her grave if she knew what kind of shape our schools were in today.
Thanks, PACLOC.
Both our mothers would be dismayed and disgusted by what has become of Government Schools, whether here or in the UK.