McQueen calls on voters to reject 2020 candidates who support ad valorem decision

HAMLET — Mayor Pro Tem Jesse McQueen on Tuesday issued a charge to voters to reject any 2020 candidate for county commissioner who does not support reversing the current Board of Commissioners’ decision in April to change the sales tax distribution method, a decision which cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales tax revenue.

McQueen has been outspoken in his frustration with the county’s decision, saying at the Hamlet City Council’s May meeting in which they were forced to slash about $700,000 from their already-completed budget that changing to ad valorem would “hurt not just Hamlet but the entire county.”

“I personally will not vote for anyone who is not willing to publicly go on the record to say that the new sales tax formula needs to be reversed,” McQueen said Tuesday. “I hope everybody in the towns, especially the ones that lost everything, I hope they search their hearts and do their diligence to look and see if maybe someone can’t be in that position that will not see the error in what happened.”

The commissioners voted unanimously to change from a per capita sales tax distribution method to ad valorem, meaning that instead of sales tax revenue being distributed to each local government entity proportionate to their population size, it will be distributed proportionate to their property tax levied, which is typically advantageous to counties because of industrial sites being on their tax books. The county’s decision came as a shock to each municipality in Richmond County, who received no prior notice that this was being considered and were only made aware when contacted by the Daily Journal the following day.

The Department of Revenue (DOR) projected that, if the county were under an ad valorem distribution method in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, that Richmond County would have received about $1,840,000 more in sales tax revenue, or an increase of 25.41%. Norman would have lost $36,000, or 100% of their total sales tax revenue. Dobbins Heights would have lost about $165,000, or 78.95%. Ellerbe would have lost $143,000, or 55.43%. Hamlet would have lost $605,000, or 37.69%. Hoffman would have lost $123,000, or 85.42%. Rockingham would have lost $767,000, or 33.03%, according to the DOR.

All of the municipalities — Rockingham, Hamlet, Ellerbe, Hoffman, Dobbins Heights and Norman — passed proclamations in April which urged the Board of Commissioners to “continue with the per capita sales tax distribution and raise the county tax rate, rather than placing this shortfall solely on the backs of the citizens” of each municipality.