County sends new sales tax offer, municipalities say it’s a ‘step forward’

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County has sent their counter offer to the municipalities in the ongoing discussion about how to resolve the sales tax dispute between the county and municipal governments, and the early reaction from municipal leaders has been positive.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Jeff Smart confirmed the offer was sent Thursday afternoon, about five hours after the conclusion of the commissioners’ called meeting during which they went into a closed session. County Manager Bryan Land characterized it as a “counter offer” to the municipalities’ offer, which they sent Tuesday morning.

Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump said that after having informally spoken with representatives of all the municipalities that the offer “represents a significant step forward in the right direction.” As they did last week prior to submitting their counter offer, representatives from each municipality will meet next week to finalize their response.

Land said in an email this week that county leadership would potentially comment publicly on their offer, and said immediately after the meeting that County Attorney Bill Webb would be sending a “statement” to media. But since the special meeting Thursday, Smart, Land, and Webb have declined to comment on what they’ve offered to the municipalities to resolve this dispute and no statement has been sent.

Webb did not respond to a message left at his office Thursday afternoon, and could not be reached Friday.

After the special meeting Thursday, Commissioners Tavares Bostic and Rick Watkins declined to go into specifics on the discussions, though Watkins added that he foresees a positive resolution.

“I think in the end, when it’s all said and done, I think people will realize we’re genuinely concerned about helping,” Watkins said. “It’s just — we’ve just got to get there.”

Commissioner Andy Grooms wasn’t as encouraged by the discussions in the immediate aftermath of the special meeting.

“We need some participation — we need some realistic participation from the municipalities because right now they’re just wanting to play games with lawyers and stuff,” Grooms said.

The municipalities’ counter offer submitted earlier this week represented the consensus of all six municipalities, according to interviews with representatives of Rockingham, Hamlet, Dobbins Heights and Ellerbe. The details of these back-and-forth offers have not been made public, though Smart confirmed in an interview in May that their initial proposal to the municipalities, which was submitted on May 24, involved “sharing” of funds, a description that has been used by Smart — and Vice Chair Justin Dawkins in March raised the need for “concessions” by the county to resolve this issue — but has not been a part of any formal agreement between the parties.

“We’re going this fiscal year for them so they can apply whatever monies that we share with them … That’s when they need it for,” Smart told the Daily Journal in May. “Obviously we’re going to come up with a number and present that to each municipality and get everybody to sign off on it, and when that happens I’ll present it to the commissioners for approval … And then the sharing will take place.”

Any agreement between the county and municipalities will not become official until it is voted on in public session by the relevant governing bodies. It’s unclear if that will be done before or after the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.