On the Henderson agenda: Support for sales tax


The Henderson City Council during its meeting tonight will be asked to endorse a push to increase the sales tax in Vance County.

Vance County formally asked for the penny addition to the sales tax during the spring, and Reps. Jim Crawford and Michael Wray have introduced legislation to enact the tax increase in Vance.

The proposed legislation would authorize the county to hold a referendum on whether to add up to 1 cent to the sales tax to support the capital needs of the Vance school system. The sales tax, which would raise an estimated $3 million per year and would provide a permanent, rising revenue source to the schools for much-need construction, would be an alternative to a bond referendum to finance a third middle school and a replacement for Clark Street Elementary School.

State Sen. Doug Berger, who has joined his House colleagues in backing the Vance sales tax increase, said at a public forum last month that the sales tax increase is a tough sell in Raleigh because the General Assembly sees the sales tax as its revenue source. Even though several counties have made requests similar to Vance’s, Berger was not optimistic.

To give the proposal the best chance, the Vance Board of Education is trying to lock in local support. Tonight, the school board is looking for an endorsement from the City Council.

The council also will hear a couple of requests from public safety agencies.

Police Chief Glen Allen and Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson are requesting an ordinance mandating the display of address numbers on property in the city. Visible addresses would make it easier for public safety vehicles, such as police cruisers, firetrucks and ambulances, to find specific locations in an emergency.

Allen also is asking the council to declare retired police K-9s to be surplus property so their handlers may purchase them.

Most of the other items on the council’s agenda tonight involve follow-up from other meetings:

* Mayor Clem Seifert will report on the work of his housing task force after the three-day visit of Department of Housing and Urban Development consultants Yolanda Porche and Dorothy Reiser two weeks ago.

* The Public Safety Committee, chaired by Lonnie Davis, will report on last week’s meeting, which produced a recommendation to place several stop signs along Roanoke Avenue to combat speeding.

* Land Planning and Development Committee, chaired by Elissa Yount, will report on its July 28 meeting, at which the panel gave its support to a revamped amortization ordinance for auto repair facilities and junkyards and discussed the problem of enforcing city codes in the Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction.

* City Engineer Frank Frazier will deliver the latest information on the city government’s proposed consolidation in the Operations & Service Center. Energy Systems Group met with Frazier and other city officials last week to discuss how the city can make that move at essentially no cost. The cost would be covered by savings from closing the Municipal Building and installing energy-efficient lighting and other equipment in all of the municipal government’s buildings.

* City Manager Eric Williams and City Attorney John Zollicoffer will report on last month’s meting with Time Warner Cable on the renewal of the nonexclusive franchise Time Warner holds with the city and county.

* Wilkerson will report on the use of the city’s new summary abatement ordinance to demolish dilapidated houses sooner.

The regular council meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building on Beckford Drive.