In a meeting that was at times contentious the Madison County Commission has decided to punt on the sales tax increase and let the voters decide.  That’s me, by the way, standing in the middle with the blue shirt and yellow tie (Photo from WHNT).

Almost as soon as the meeting began Commissioner Faye Dyer offered a proposal to allow the voters of Madison County decide the issue.  I was quite a bit surprised since the commission had the option to add the measure to the ballot last year and they voted against it - even though it would have cost nothing.  Roger Jones, who voted against putting it on the ballot before, agreed with Dyer.  At this point Commissioner Bob Harrison started to get visibly upset.  He had carved out his nice little bribe agreement with the Huntsville Board of Education and I think he saw his plans beginning to unravel.

There was ample debate among the commissioners and among the public.  In my opinion, the proponents of the tax tended to offer up touching, heartfelt pleas for the tax increase, but without any substantive causes.  They are simply on the wrong side of the facts in too many circumstances.

The calls for the commission to implement the half cent sales tax increase have been made for about two years.  All that time the proponents have cited the urgency as the primary rationale for using what they willingly admit is the wrong tax.  Over that time the commission could have asked the residents of Madison County to succumb to higher property taxes and equalize with the two cities.  The voters rejected such an increase a few years back, but times have changed and maybe they would be more receptive to footing the bills for their schools.  The sales tax rate in Madison County is 5.5%.  If they brought their sales tax rate up to the 8% that is assessed in Madison and Huntsville they could raise $12 million, which would be more than sufficient to secure financing for construction.  Yet the tax backers continue to stress the urgency, all the while they are taking no steps towards alternative methods of raising the “urgently” needed revenue.

The fact of the matter is that the citizens in Madison County probably moved there, in part, due to low taxes, which means a lower cost of living.  Well, with low taxes comes an equivalent level of government services.  Those citizens have been unwilling to foot the bill to pay for schools, which tells me that they don’t see the need.  If you’re a resident of unincorporated Madison County (or any other unincorporated area) you’re more than welcome to move into Huntsville and enjoy our under capacity schools.  Yes, your house will cost more, but nothing in life is free.

Back to the meeting, Commissioner Harrison pushed to have the school districts’ capital plans essentially frozen so that he wouldn’t lose the riches he bargained for.  In the end, though, he and his constituents will have to abide by the decisions of their elected school board member just like the rest of us.  At this point it was clear that the decision to put the tax increase on the ballot was going to pass; the commissioners were haggling over details.

One of Harrison’s constituents made an impassioned speech for the tax increase and echoed Harrison’s sentiments that the capital projects promised to Harrison in exchange for his vote should not be taken back if the tax passes.  He wanted a guarantee.  I may be wrong, but if I were a proponent of the tax increase I would not want that.  If the voters of the county at large think that they are voting to raise their taxes to finance schools in another district then the tax increase will dramatically fail.  Harrison thought he had a good deal set up for his district - good enough to impose a regressive tax on one of the (if not the) poorest districts in Madison County.  Now they will have to prove they need the money just like everyone else in the county.

On something of a formality the commission had to vote on the tax increase since it had been previously introduced.  Brooks, Dyer, Dale Strong, and, yes, even Jerry Craig voted against the tax increase.  Roger Jones and Harrison voted yes.

Finally the commission voted on the allowing citizens to make the decision and all except Harrison voted yes.

I’ll give credit where credit is due - Craig held true to his word.  Dyer’s proposal certainly made his choice a lot easier, but he still did the right thing.

Now it will be up to both sides to present their respective cases to the public.  I could be proven wrong, but I feel confident that the tax increase will be defeated.

Update (6/12/2007):  The Huntsville Times included me in their story on the tax increase (page 4).

Brian LeCompte, who opposed the increase, said he had to take off work to keep an eye on the commissioners.

“Why don’t you get to your point?” Jones asked.

To put my comments into perspective, I had a pseudo-planned statement.  The specifics would shift to mesh with the prevailing discussion, but I had a few comments to make.  When it became apparent that it was inevitable that the tax was going to be put before the people I decided to bite my tongue.  No reason to potentially upset the proverbial apple cart.

However, Comm. Harrison introduced a measure to table discussion of the public vote until another day.  Now debate on this tax increase has been going on for about two years.  It keeps coming up time and again.  I work for a living and when I take time off to attend a political meeting in the middle of the day I either have to use vacation or stay late the rest of the week, which causes me to lose time with my family.  I’m tired of having to take time off on this one issue repeatedly and I spoke up in opposition to Harrison’s proposal to table the discussion.  I wanted to see some definitive action that day and I got satisfaction.  I’ll have to admit that I was quite direct in my statement, which invited Jones’ sarcastic retort.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Madison County, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.