As Winston-Salem City Council continues to debate a 4.2-cent property tax increase, the eternal question arises:
Council member Wanda Merschel, chairwoman of the council’s finance committee and representative for the Northwest Ward, said Monday that the council has “a real sensitivity” to increasing the tax rate.
“There’s that push-pull: Is the taxpayer getting a value, in their mind, for what the government is taking?”
Included in City Manager Lee Garrity’s tax increase is 1.5 cents to subsidize the city’s bus system, which a small portion of the city’s population uses, no matter how hard they promote it.
