PART director Brent McKinney takes his tax-and-ride show to Davidson County, pitching a 5 percent tax on car rentals and a $1 tax added to each vehicle registered in the county. Yeah, I know the first part of the Dispatch article presents an either-or scenario, but keep reading:
McKinney explained to the board Thursday that PART would essentially lose money each year it served Davidson County, but that it could operate from its current reserve fund of more than $1 million. When that reserve is depleted around 2009, the organization would come back to the county to discuss increasing the vehicle registration tax or implementing the rental tax……
McKinney, however, said most counties start with the rental vehicle tax to generate some revenue, adding the vehicle registration tax later as needed.
But here’s the best part:
The commissioners on Thursday considered holding discussion of the issue in the context of a public hearing, but McKinney told them they were not required by law to do so.
Instead, the commissioners will deliberate among themselves whether to authorize PART to levy one of the two proposed taxes. PART would then hold a public hearing, after which its board would vote on whether to levy the tax, thereby extending bus service to the county.
Gee, I wonder what the PART board would do? And why did McKinney make a point to mention that county commissioners aren’t required by law to hold a public hearing? It couldn’t be that Davidson County residents would object to a tax increase for a bus service few of them will ever use, could it?
