by Angela H. Hill
As Patrick County voters hit the polls Tuesday, November 8, they’ll be asked for the sixth time whether they support a 4-percent, county-wide meals tax. The Town of Stuart already has a meals tax of 5 percent, but counties need voter approval to levy a meals tax on restaurants outside town and city limits.
Proponents say the tax would pull from wealthy diners at Primland, providing needed revenue for EMS and/or fire services. Opponents see the meals tax—and any other new tax—as burdensome and unnecessary at a time when the local economy remains sluggish.
Four of the five members of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors are in favor of the meals tax. Chairman Roger Hayden, Dan River District, said he will remain opposed—not just to the meals tax, but to all new taxes and tax increases—until wages go up.
“Patrick County taxes have increased while personal income has declined, and is still declining,” Hayden said, “but I want the people to decide … Patrick County has not recouped from NAFTA closing our plants along with the demise of tobacco production. We are stuck in a 2008 economy.”
Should it pass, however, the board of supervisors has pledged to spend meals-tax revenue on EMS and/or fire. Rickie Fulcher, Peters Creek supervisor, said the board is discussing whether the county should have a paid service as well as supplement existing EMS volunteers.
Either way, Fulcher said, the meals-tax revenue would “go to whatever their needs are, to strengthen that program as a whole.”
Crystal Harris, Smith River District supervisor, said that she’s aware of misinformation circulating about meals-tax revenue paying for tourism initiatives such as area trails, the LOVE sign by the library, and the caboose moving to the Mayo River Trail in Stuart.
These projects are primarily funded through the tourism occupancy tax, a tax that is levied on hotel rooms and other accommodations, she explained.
Those in favor of the meals tax also say that it’s fairer than other types of taxes on the table for funding EMS and fire service. Residents who don’t want to pay a 4-percent meals tax may chose to dine at home, proponents say.
“It’s a voluntary tax,” said Mayo River District Supervisor Lock Boyce. “If you don’t want to pay that tax, go to the grocery store, buy some hot dogs and can of pork-and-beans and put them in a soup pot and—viola! There’s dinner! It’ll run you a fraction of the cost of eating out.”
Wealthy diners at Primland will hardly notice the tax, he continued, given the large sum they’re shelling out for the meal. “It’s coming from people with incomes way beyond most of us,” Boyce said.
Karl Weiss, Blue Ridge District supervisor, said he too prefers to the meals tax to other types of taxation. “It’s so important to our county to get money from outside our county that we don’t have to tax our folks for. Primland is a wonderful place and I’m proud to have them in the county. Ninety-nine percent of the folks who stay there are from outside our county.”
On the other hand, opponents of the meals tax are concerned it will hurt small local restaurants that depend on local diners—as well as burden the diners themselves.
If the meals tax passes, it would tack on an additional 4 percent to ready-to-consume foods served by restaurants and deli counters (for the full text of the ordinance, see Election Ballot story, right). Groceries are not subject to the tax, and the ordinance contains myriad exemptions for churches and other nonprofits.
What does a 4-percent meals tax look like on a typical bill for lunch? Currently, all diners across Virginia pay a 5.3 percent sales tax; so a $4 lunch outside Stuart is now $4.21. If the meals tax passes, that $4.21 meal would go up another 16 cents to become $4.37.
In the town of Stuart, that $4 lunch costs $4.41. Town Manager Terry Tilley said the Stuart meals tax annually generates about $250,000, which is not earmarked for certain projects but instead goes into the general fund.
Chris Howell, who with her husband owns Howell’s Grocery & Restaurant on Woolwine Highway, said she is not in favor of the meals tax. She said she knows it’s designed to capture tourist dollars, but she doesn’t serve many tourists.
“It’s going to hurt local people—hard-working local people. It’s a no-win,” Howell said. Plus, she’ll incur the expense of changing her register to recalculate the new tax rate, and pay more for bookkeeping and tax preparation.
Howell said the county has already gone up on taxes, referring to a rise in real-estate taxes in 2015.
“I don’t think the county needs it. If I thought we needed it, I would have voted for it,” Howell continued.
Some county citizens also say the county does not need additional tax revenue because it’s already operating under budget and should be able to fund fire and emergency services with existing funds.
Woolwine resident Bill Moore, who is a former hospital administrator, has addressed the board of supervisors several times about the budget. Numbers he requested show that in 2016 the county collected $633, 556 more than anticipated.
“If they want to do 24-hour EMS, they already have the money to do it, they’re just not choosing to spend it on the EMS,” Moore said. “I am actually not opposed to the ambulance service. I think they need it. I just don’t think they need a new tax to pay for it.”
Moore is also concerned about the supervisors’ lack of specifics on how exactly to fund EMS and fire improvements, plus he said it’s possible the supervisors will use meals-tax revenue for other things.
“If their past actions are an indication of their future ones,” Moore writes in a tax-opposition email, “I have no confidence that the Patrick County Board of Supervisors will or can make good and appropriate use of yet more tax dollars.”
Board Chairman Hayden said that the $633,556 collected in excess of projections was put into the county’s general fund, and explained that these funds are generated from variables that can’t be accurately budgeted, such as delinquent taxes and sales tax.
“These ‘one-time’ funds are used for budget overruns and other bills that were not expected. One has to be very careful not to use one-time funds to start programs that would have an impact on recurring budgets,” Hayden said. “There must be a continuous stream of funds to support any permanent endeavor.”
