No progress on third party review of county-wide taxation

ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Board of Commissioners have yet to reach out to the municipalities to negotiate the terms of the third party review of taxation in the county that was put forward in May, though County Attorney Bill Webb said this is still “in the cards.”

At the May meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Rick Watkins motioned — with a second by Commissioner Tavares Bostic — to seek the services of an independent tax and accounting firm to conduct a comprehensive study of “taxation in Richmond County.” Watkins’ motion stemmed from the outrage from the municipalities following the county switching to an ad valorem sales tax distribution method without notice and which would cause much greater impacts to individual municipalities than the county initially reported, according to projections provided by the Department of Revenue.

To do this, the participating government entities would sign a Memorandum of Understanding and Commitment to cooperate in an “open and transparent process,” reads Watkins’ motion. The municipalities would likely be asked to help fund the study, which, under the original motion, would produce a full report by Feb. 1, 2021.

Watkins said in an email last week that the study’s results would not just include financial data but also “recommendations on ability to pay, fairness, equity and would include suggested strategies for growth and prosperity.”

“The key word is ‘comprehensive,’” Watkins said. “Taxation is a more complex issue than just the consideration of sales tax projections and revenue.”

“I believe the study would be an investment in transparency of government, accuracy of data and confidence by all taxpayers (regardless of zip code) that their best interests are being served,” Watkins continued. “To my knowledge, this type of study has not been conducted in Richmond County in years.”

The UNC School of Government or other associations that represent municipalities in the state would be a likely starting point for finding a suitable third party to conduct the study, according to Watkins. He said that, in his experience with program evaluations, the average cost would be $35,000.

Webb said at the June meeting that it would be better if the county waited until the 2020-2021 fiscal year began on July 1 to raise the issue of the third party review. Hamlet Mayor Bill Bayless and Councilwoman Abbie Covington reported Thursday that no one from the county had reached out to them about the third party review. On July 1, Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump said in an email that he also had not heard any more from the county on this, adding “nor are we interested in a third party review at this point.”

“We did not see the relevance of (a third party review) when it was proposed,” Crump said.