The government in Mills River is not afraid to be creative about taxation. Mills River is a large, rural area that left people scratching their heads when citizens announced their intent to incorporate. NC allows counties to redistribute sales tax revenues either in accordance with population or property taxes. Since property taxes were relatively low in Mills River, the town signed an agreement that allowed it to pay a fee to Henderson County in exchange for retaining a population-based sales tax allocation. Henderson County recently determined it would cancel all such arrangements and reapportion sales tax revenues exclusively on a property-tax basis. This left Mills River, with a $600,000 budget cut and $1.2 million in savings. If the town councilors had more money, they would build a park. The mayor pro tem proposed asking the people if they wanted a park badly enough to have their taxes raised. Council decided that, rather than holding a normal election, they will poll citizens with a yes/no ballot sent via U.S. Mail.
by Leslee Kulba
Wild West blogger