CLARK CO. TO VOTE ON HALF-PERCENT SALES TAX... AGAIN
Friday, February 18th, 2005 -- 11:42 AM
The vote was close, but the Clark County Board of Supervisors decided to send an advisory referendum on the half-percent county sales tax back to voters last night.After an attempt to table, and in effect, kill Greenwood-area Supervisor Rodger Asbeck?s resolution failed 3 to 23, the board voted 14 to 12 to send a non-binding referendum to voters on the April 5th ballot. It will ask if the county should enact a half-percent sales tax. A similar referendum failed by a nearly 3 to 1 margin a couple years ago.
Supervisor Ashbeck said a lot had changed in the past couple years and he was interested to see if the public?s opinion had changed with it. He noted there would have to be cuts to programs and services if more revenue could not be found.
Supervisor Frank Nikolay, who attempted to kill the resolution with his motion to table, asked how long supervisors wanted to ?beat a dead dog to death?. He said it was obvious that residents didn?t want another tax and the referendum was a waste of money.
Supervisor Bob Rogstad of the Greenwood area agreed. Although he actually cast the deciding vote in favor of the resolution, Rogstad said he opposed the tax.
"This will give the people the opportunity to say 'no, we don't want additional taxes and there are cuts to be made,'" Rogstad told the board last night, "It's a dirty damn shame when you have to play games to get cuts made in a county that is over-taxing the people relative to their incomes."
Also last night, the board went into a ?committee of the whole?, which allows for free and open discussion. The primary focus was the budget.
Board Chairman Wayne Hendrickson begged supervisors to explain how they wanted to cut the budget. He said now was the time to discuss these issues saying the levy was going to go up unless cuts were made.
He actually got some ideas last night.
The sale of the Clark County Health Care Center and Bruce Mound, another look at the county?s health insurance bill, the technology budget line and some other ideas were discussed.
Also during the session, Supervisor Rogstad again expressed his disdain for the Smart Growth comprehensive planning process. He said the county should use a referendum to ask residents if the county should continue, or abandon the process. Board chairman Wayne Hendrickson said the state told them they?d have to pay back $196,000 in grant money should they fail to ratify a plan.
During a separate presentation, Ken Jaworski ? who?s helping the county develop their plan ? explained that 10 towns and 9 municipalities were involved with planning process at this time. The Town of Dewhurst and City of Thorp had already adopted their plans.
He estimated the County?s plan would be going to a public hearing in May.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.