Tolling agreement in question as meeting deadline passes

ROCKINGHAM — Since Richmond County reached out to the municipalities to meet to discuss a solution to the dispute over the sales tax distribution method in May rather than April, as they agreed upon in their tolling agreement, this agreement has been thrown into question.

The agreement lays out the way in which the county and its municipalities must proceed as they attempt to reach a solution before Sept. 13, at which point the cities of Rockingham and Hamlet can move forward with a lawsuit against the county for breach of contract. It states that the county must make a “good-faith effort” to meet with each municipality — and for Rockingham and Hamlet to also make this effort to meet with the county — during the month of April.

“The County and Hamlet, and the County and Rockingham, will make a good-faith effort to hold their respective meetings in the month of April 2021, and the County will make a good-faith effort to hold its meetings with the other municipalities during April 2021 as well,” reads Section 3 of the tolling agreement obtained by the Daily Journal.

The county sent out letters beginning April 19 asking for municipal leaders to send dates that they were available to meet. Those dates included many dates last week and early this week. But the municipalities didn’t hear back until the morning of Tuesday, April 27 — after many of these available dates had passed — when County Clerk Dena Cook asked their availability in May. The Daily Journal interviewed leaders from each municipality, none of whom said the county reached out during the period between the 19th and the 27th to discuss scheduling conflicts.

The county has now set up meetings with all six municipalities at the county’s Administration Building, according to Board of Commissioners Chair Jeff Smart. County Manager Bryan Land didn’t reply to requests for comment Wednesday and Friday on why the county didn’t take the municipalities up on the dates they provided.

Smart said he is “disappointed” the meetings didn’t happen in April, adding that he was not personally involved with scheduling the meetings so he could not speak to any scheduling conflicts that may have been an issue. He called Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump personally Thursday and set up a meeting with Rockingham leaders in a 10-minute conversation, according to Crump.

“I wish the meetings could have happened sooner but that didn’t happen so we focus on the future meetings,” Smart said in a text. “As I’ve said before, I don’t care about the past. I’m focused on the future and doing what’s best for the citizens of Richmond County. I believe that is in the best interest of everyone for the County and the local municipalities to all be on the same page and create unity in Richmond County.

“I will continue to pursue this as long as I am a Commissioner no matter who or what stands in the way,” he continued. “I am 100% certain this is why I was put in this position by the voters in Richmond County.”

Crump said that the attorney representing Rockingham and Hamlet in the mediation and potential lawsuit against the county has reached out to the county’s legal counsel to inform them that the cities are “discussing the legal ramifications” of not meeting in April, as it relates to the validity of the tolling agreement.

“We have had conversations with the county’s attorneys and told them we were taking a look to determine whether the tolling agreement is still in effect,” Crump said in an interview Friday. “For right now it is [in effect], but will it be in a month from now? I don’t know.”

He added that missing the April deadline and the lack of follow up by the county on the meeting dates “does not look good.”

“I think it did violate the spirit of the tolling agreement,” Crump said.

Hamlet Mayor Bill Bayless and Hamlet City Manager Matthew Christian each said they are looking ahead to the meetings with county officials.

“Right now we are focused on having a productive meeting,” Christian said in an email. “I sincerely hope that we can make some progress soon.”

“I’m glad they have scheduled the meeting,” said Bayless in a text. “We will see how it goes?”

Rockingham Mayor Steve Morris said he is grateful to Smart and Vice Chair Justin Dawkins for their work to bridge the gap between the county and the municipalities.

“I really, genuinely hope we can work this out without getting to court … but that’s not our intent or our desire,” Morris said.

Hamlet Councilwoman Abbie Covington, who will be a part of the meeting with the county, lamented that the April 30 deadline for changing the sales tax distribution method has passed, saying that she feels meetings have now lost their purpose. The goal for the municipalities, she said, was to seek a revenue sharing solution only if the effort to change the distribution method back to per capita failed.

“If we weren’t going to have an honest discussion about the impact of the actions that they took when they changed the sales tax there was no point in having the discussion other than the education purposes of the people who came to meet with us,” Covington said. “If the discussions did not happen prior to happen prior to April 30 then the discussion about the impact was pointless.”

She added that Hamlet’s new financial constraints stemming from the county’s decision to change to ad valorem ”call into question” a number of services that Hamlet provides outside its city limits, such as fire protection.

The municipalities and the county are in budget talks currently, and are all working on a May 17 deadline to turn in a draft to the Local Government Commission as part of their requirements after being added to the LGC’s unit assistance list.