It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
If that is indeed the case, then Guilford County is full of stark-raving mad leaders because the Chairman of the Guilford Board of Commissioners Skip Alston and other commissioners once again want to put a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the ballot in 2024.
School and county leaders have tried many times before to convince voters in Guilford County that they should approve the quarter-cent sales tax hike – though, time and time again, the voters have said no.
However, Alston and the other commissioners in favor of the idea may not be crazy after all. Alston said that, while the sales tax initiative has failed every time before, voters may choose differently in 2024.
In 2022, county voters approved the largest education bond referendum in the history of the state, but also voted down the sales tax increase that was meant to help pay off that debt.
Alston said Guilford County government now has a plan to cover the debt for the $2 billion in school bond referendums of the last three years and therefore the $20 million or so in additional revenue each year from a sales tax hike could be used for other purposes.
“We don’t have to designate it for school debt,” Alston said.
He said one promising possibility is to commit the money toward higher pay for teachers and other school employees.
Alston added that that could make the tax increase much more palatable for voters.
“They say they love the teachers so much and they deserve higher pay,” he said, “Well, here’s $20 million a year for that purpose.”
He said everyone in the county knows that the Guilford County Schools’ “classified” workers – such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and janitorial staff – are severely underpaid, and this new revenue stream could help raise that pay.
How about we find ways to be more efficient in our current spending and free up the budget to pay teachers a fair wage? Private industry looks to improve productivity every year or they find management who can…. City and County governments need to do the same. That is the old school conservative mindset (Coolidge Conservative)…….”We don’t need more government. We need more Efficient government”.
If America’s “educators” were paid by merit, they would earn less than the Indian teachers who easily outperform them – at a fraction of the cost.
Skip I’m sure no one has ever told you this but you are full of donkey dung and I know you read the comments on here, you don’t have any supporters here. You are such an a$$
As usual the County Commissioners are going to lie in order to try and get more tax dollars. They are saying that the sales tax increase will be used for one thing when it is actually going to be used for something else. What has happened to the millions of dollars that the lottery was supposed to generate. I guess everyone has forgotten about it. I live close enough to other counties/cities that I can buy things from and go to restaurants if an additional sales tax and restaurant taxes are approved.
MO Money, MO Money, Skippy’s mantra. “Give me your money and I’ll decide how to spend it “
And I suppose he still wants the city to start contributing their property tax dollars to run the county-operarted schools.
The one thing about government is it will find a way to increase revenues. So without a sales tax increase, they will just raise property taxes. Where the sales tax increases make sense is everyone buying something pays, while those percentage of property taxes only pay property tax. Outsiders pay, renters pay, businesses pay. So is it you want everyone paying and seeing the tax, or just property owners. If you think that not adding the sales tax will stop the collection of revenues, you may want to rethink that position. They will get the money, one way or the other.
Didn’t Skip announce earlier he did not forsee any tax increases in 2024? And he still gets elected. Hopefully, voters will shoot this down – AGAIN!
And designating funds to a specific expense line item. Doesn’t change one thing in the long run. Budget is prepared, expenses identified, revenues from sales tax will be applied to specific expense, net of rest of budget is covered by unrestricted funds, The total $’s spent is still the same.
There is no logical reason for any more tax increases of any kind. No matter how much they extort from us, it is never enough.
Name something our govt does well.
Our government does a very good job of discriminating on the basis of skin color and gender, so there’s that. Our city council provides tax dollars to their friends abundantly.
Bend over and keep voting like you did in the past elections or vote new people into office. It’s your money. Think.
If the people who work in the Parasitic Sector are “severely underpaid”, they are free to find more rewarding jobs in the Productive Sector, aren’t they?
So why don’t they?
Because they know they can’t cut it in the Productive Sector.
So they just stay where they are, and bitch about how they’re so underappreciated.
Get stuffed.
You’re lucky to have a pretend job – with benefits. And if you don’t like it, go elsewhere.
You can always work your way up. Work hard, work smart, get lucky; any of those work.
Never believe what a politician has to say. Eliminate the waste in the government. It would be great to have a private company evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the government
This is nuts…They get 92 million extra dollars from our property taxes and want more? I need some meds….
If money is needed to repay the bonds, the answer is simple, don’t sell the bonds. The yes-voter for the issue of bonds was not a compulsory mandate to sell bonds. Circumstances change after casting a vote. That’s why early voting is such a bad idea; things come to light after casting an early vote. That’s what we have here. Skippy and his lackeys knew the county could not afford any issued bonds without the sales tax increase that was on the ballot with the school bond question. Skippy did not consider that taxpayers, uninformed as they are, would vote down a tax increase that would be necessary to pay for the school bonds that they voted for. Now Skippy is faced with a conundrum. He has got to find a way to pay for the bonds. He is trying for a second bite of the apple by putting the sales tax increase on the ballot again. He and his lackeys will attempt every persuasive argument possible to pass the increase. As stated, the problem can be solved by not selling the bonds. Bonds are for large institutions to make tax-free money. Skippy wants to tax the people of Guilford County, so the buyers of the bonds avoid taxes. The campaign begins now. No new taxes.