Area leaders address sales tax legislation concerns

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Both county and town leaders in New Hanover and Brunswick counties spoke out in a news conference about sales tax legislation.

A City of Wilmington spokeswoman said Mayor Bill Saffo, along with New Hanover Commission Chair Jonathan Barfield and chamber of commerce officials in both counties, scheduled the news conference in Leland 2 p.m. The legislation is aimed to redistribute sales tax revenues in the state, instead of keeping those tax dollars in the towns or counties where the money was spent.

Area leaders said the Cape Fear region could lose millions of dollars in this move, due to the tourism impacts in the region.

New Hanover County and Brunswick county leaders are asking for the public’s help in fighting this bill they say will cost the area millions in revenue. They are asking the public to contact their representatives.

Officials said if the bill is passed and the sale tax revenue is decreased, they will have to look at either raising property taxes or cutting funding to schools and other services. Jonathan Barfield, New Hanover County commissioner and Pat Sykes, Brunswick County commissioner both say they don’t want this to happen.

“The county will be forced to do two things, cut services, go up on taxes, in addition to that once this taxes are taken we usually don’t get it back,” said Sykes.

“To add to that burden to our citizens would be unbearable. And again for our school system they get a lot of money from the sales tax revenue that’s coming in and to cut them at this terrible time would be detrimental to education of our young boys and girls in our community,” said Barfield.

Gov. Pat McCrory has said he does not support the bill. In a news release sent by his office, visitor spending rose in 97 out of 100 counties in the state in 2014. The news release said visitor spending in New Hanover County was just over $500 million last year, with Brunswick county just under the $500 million mark.