County voters give thumbs-up to increase in sales tax

County property owners soon will pay less in taxes but all county residents will pay a little more at the checkout line after voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a measure that would raise the sales tax here.

More than 19,000 county residents voted on the 1-cent local option sales tax, which triumphed by a 10,541-8,651 margin.

As a result, the sales tax in the county will rise to 8 percent, including a 6 percent sales tax imposed by the state and a 1-cent sales tax to pay for a school building program. But the higher sales tax will be offset by a sizable tax savings for property owners. Seventy-one percent of the money generated by the sales tax will go to reduce the county's portion of the homeowners' property taxes. The remaining money will be earmarked for capital expenditures.

A revenue shortfall forced the county to use its reserve fund to cover its capital needs, such as police cruisers, in its current budget.

"In last year's budget we had to eliminate all capital expenditures but now the percentage remaining in the sales tax will go to fund capital projects for the county," a happy Cherokee County Interim Administrator Ben Clary said.

Property owners should be happy, too.

Passage of the sales tax means a City of Gaffney resident who owns a $100,000 home will save $156 in property taxes.

A Blacksburg resident who lives in a like-valued home would save $71 on his property taxes, while a county resident who owns a $100,000 home would realize a savings of $81.

Vehicle taxes will decrease as well.

A Gaffney resident who drives a $20,000 vehicle would save $31 in property taxes. A Blacksburg resident who owns a car valued at $20,000 would enjoy a $14 reduction in car taxes, while county residents who drive a similarly-valued car would pay $16 less in vehicle property taxes.

Clary said collection of the sales tax will likely begin in May. That means the county must wait until 2010 to enjoy the sales tax's full impact.

"We will certainly see some relief in 2009 but the big relief will come in 2010 when we'll have a full year to collect the tax," Clary said.

Clary added he was surprised that such a large number of voters supported the sales tax.

"The economic times being what they are I thought it would be a closer margin," he said.