The city of Byrnes Mill is asking voters April 3 two approve two 1/2-cent sales tax increases to provide additional revenue to maintain roads and improve transportation.
Mayor Susan Gibson said the proposed taxes are all about roads.
“I just think we’re asking the citizens to keep our city’s roads in good and safe condition,” she said.
Each of the sales tax issues requires a simple majority to pass.
The city’s current total sales tax rate is 8.35 cents per dollar, with the city receiving 1 cent from that. The rest goes to the state, county and local fire and ambulance districts.
If one of Byrnes Mill’s proposed sales taxes passes, the rate in the city would increase to 8.85 cents, and if both measures pass, the amount would increase to 9.35 cents.
Each proposed sales tax increase could bring in an additional $100,000 annually depending on local sales, City Administrator Debbie LaVenture said.
Proposition C
Prop C is a 1/2 cent capital improvement sales tax that would be used to maintain the major roads in the city, Gibson said.
Byrnes Mill roads are in need of maintenance, she said.
“Our roads are sub-average and we don’t have enough money to maintain them properly,” she said. “This helps support the maintenance and safety of our roads.”
In the spring of 2017, flooding caused Frank’s Road to cave in, and the cost to repair the road now has surpassed the $211,000 the city had estimated for the project, LaVenture said.
The city’s budget for street maintenance is approximately $60,000 annually, and for capital improvements approximately $136,000 is budgeted each year, LaVenture said.
Byrnes Mill maintains approximately 9 miles of roads. Formerly, the city had almost 13 miles of roads, but because of maintenance costs, it returned more than 3 miles of them to subdivisions so they can be privately maintained, LaVenture said.
“We cut our expenses to the bone, Gibson said.
Even if the capital improvement sales tax is approved, the city would not be able to take back those private roads, she said.
Prop T
Prop T, a transportation tax, is the second 1/2 cent sales tax. Gibson said revenue from that tax would be used to maintain equipment used for road work and to purchase new equipment that would be used for roads.
“They go together like hand in glove – materials and manpower, equipment and maintaining that equipment,” Gibson said.
The money also could be used to repair police vehicles.
“The wear and tear on the police cars is amazing, but they are on the road 24 hours a day, Gibson said. “We really go through tires.”
Transportation taxes can also be used to repair and construct roads and bridges as well as support public transportation systems, according to state statute.
Last April, the city proposed two sales tax increases and a property tax increase, and all three failed.
The two sales tax issues were defeated by a narrow margin, with the capital improvement sales tax losing by four votes and the transportation sales tax losing by one vote.
Since last year’s results were so close, Byrnes Mill officials thought it was worth posing the questions again, LaVenture said.
“It was very close, and we still have the same issues,” she said. “We still need the revenue to repair roads and make capital improvements. We had to cut the budget last year due to tax issues failing.”
Mayor Gibson said they also heard from residents who wanted it back on the ballot.
“We had a lot of feedback from (members of) the community who said they wanted another chance to vote on it,” Gibson said.