02-08-2025
Bill limiting use of sales tax passes
GUILFORD COUNTY — Voters will be asked again to approve a sales tax increase of 0.25% of a penny for every $1 of sales, but this time legislation dictates how the revenue must be spent if the increase is approved.
House Bill 305 was amended by Sen. Phil Berger Sr., R-Rockingham and Senate president pro tem, to set parameters on how the revenue, estimated at $28.7 million a year, would be allocated, with most of it going for teacher pay. The bill passed the General Assembly this week.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in mid-June to place the sales tax referendum issue on the November 2026 general election ballot. A little more than a week after the commissioners' action, Berger amended House Bill 305 to address the sales tax proposal.
Berger, whose legislative district includes Guilford County and some precincts in High Point, has said he placed directives on allocating the tax revenue to assure Guilford County voters on how the money would be spent.
Although the county commissioners have pledged that all revenue raised by the proposed sales tax increase would go to teacher pay, there was no provision in state law preventing the money from being directed to other purposes.
'House Bill 305 now provides them with information so they can make an educated decision,' Berger previously said.
If the proposed tax increase is approved by voters and raises $28.7 million, this is how the money would have to be allocated, according to the new legislation:
• Teacher pay supplements in Guilford County Schools, $19.2 million.
• Guilford County Fire and Rescue Council for equipment purposes and capital expenditures, $5.5 million.
• Guilford Technical Community College capital projects, $2.7 million.
• Allocations for Whitsett, Summerfield, Stokesdale, Pleasant Garden and Oak Ridge, $1.3 million.
Berger's allocation approach apparently was the first time that has been applied in North Carolina to a sales tax referendum.
Whether it will change how Guilford County voters view the proposal is uncertain. Voters have rejected the same proposed sales tax increase six times in the past 20 years, most recently in the November 2024 general election.
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