Gibson Co. Cities Plan For Less Tax Revenue
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Super Tuesday may have come and gone, but on Wednesday, Gibson County mayors are speaking out about residents passing a measure that will increase the county’s local option sales tax. On Tuesday, voters approved the increase, which would go up from 2.25 percent to 2.75 percent. Beginning July 1 when the sales tax increase goes into effect, smaller towns like Dyer and Rutherford will be getting some extra money, but the larger cities like Trenton and Milan will lose some of theirs, and leaders of those cities said it is going to be tough making up lost revenue. “The 3,050 people are going to affect about 24,000 people who live in Trenton, Milan and Humboldt,” said Trenton Mayor Tony Burriss. Burriss said he is disappointed with the results of Tuesday’s sales tax vote, especially since Trenton residents could not vote for it. “They had absolutely no say so in this,” Mayor Burriss said. “They’re going to get some sort of increase somewhere, or somebody’s going to lose their job somewhere and we had absolutely nothing to say about it.” Now that the increase has been approved, Burriss said to cope, city leaders will have to raise taxes, cut back services or lay off employees – likely a combination. “We have cut the budget here in Trenton by $500,000 over the last four years and so we’ll be hard pressed to find where we can cut our budget any deeper.” And it is not just in Trenton. Milan Mayor Chris Crider said his city is going to have to raise property taxes at least 20 percent. It is because those larger cities already have the 2.75 percent sales tax, so they will lose some of that sales tax revenue, with the money instead going toward school districts. For towns like Rutherford and Dyer, half of the revenue goes to the school system and the other half goes to their towns. “It will help us provide services for our citizens, things that are needed,” said Rutherford Mayor Keith Cardwell. “Any increase in revenue that we get helps us to meet our financial needs that we need.” Cardwell said they are not sure what they will do with the extra money yet, but they will discuss it during budget meetings after the increase goes into effect July 1.
