Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Special election to be held Tuesday for Bath County nickel tax

Bath County Public Schools / Ross Tarrant Architects

Bath County residents will once again have the opportunity to vote for or against a nickel tax this week.

Steven Evans, Bath County Superintendent, spoke at an online forum to discuss the tax and explain to county residents what it is and why they need it.

He said the most recent vote against the tax, held during the November presidential election, was likely due to people not understanding what it was.

“So, we had a presidential election, 5,000 people came out in Bath County to vote for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, and while they were there, they saw Amendment 1, Amendment 2, school board races, and something about ‘Do I want to pay more for a tax?’. And so, it was defeated 3,800 to 1,300. That’s fine, but we had people voting against something that they didn’t know,” said Evans.

Evans said the tax will be used to generate funds to pay for the construction of a new middle school for the county, something he said is desperately needed. The current building was constructed in 1939, and officials said it’s on its last legs, unable to properly serve the classrooms of today. He said that regardless of if the tax passes, residents will eventually pay the nickel.

“You’re going to pay the nickel rate; over time you’re going to pay it. And so, if we can pass it this time, this will actually get us to stop chasing that nickel because we have to have it and get us back to lowering the rate. For eight years, when the last nickel, the rate was going up one cent a year. Chasing the nickel with 4% default is about two to two and a half, three cents, so now its going up two to three percent faster,” said Evans.

Evans said that the rate will continue to increase, but if the nickel is implemented now, they could return to a lower rate and keep it lower, rather than having it increase every year.

He said there are additional incentives to passing the nickel now. If it passes the county will receive a substantial amount of funding from the federal government to help cover the building costs.

The tax would add a 5-cent tax per $100 of property value. The vote will be held on Tuesday, January 14.