The rural Greene County voters are being asked to decide on two ballot measures on March 5th.
The Greene County Board of Supervisors is asking voters to continue using the one cent sales tax with the Local Option Sales and Services Tax, but they are looking to change the revenue purpose statement to use those funds for “any lawful purpose.” Greene County Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins says the current language is “100% property tax relief and any lawful purpose.”
Hoskins points out how they are using LOSST funds as property tax relief is by allowing the Secondary Roads Department to have $360,000 of LOSST funds in order to reach a certain threshold to access the other money they can use for projects, while also using $45,000 of LOSST to purchase a sheriff’s office vehicle. Hoskins explains if the County couldn’t use LOSST funds to cover those expenses, then property taxes would increase.
Hoskins points out the Board plans to continue to fund the Secondary Roads Department its $360,000 share, along with purchasing a vehicle for the sheriff’s office for $45,000 with LOSST funds, but then use the excess amount left with LOSST to pay back on the bond issuance to cover the rest of the cost to upgrade the HVAC system in the Greene County Courthouse.
Currently, Hoskins says the reason the County is acting now to change the language is because they have until 2026 to use the $1.8 million of the federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The Board would need to bond for $1.5 million to pay for the rest of the project. Hoskins adds the County has about $450,000 of carryover in LOSST for additional cushion or for any other projects that could happen. Greene County Engineer Wade Weiss said the rural levy will not go up due to changing the revenue purpose statement for LOSST.
The other ballot measure for voters to consider is eliminating the sunset date for LOSST, which means LOSST would continue to be ongoing and would have to be brought up again for a public vote.
In-person early voting is going on now at the Greene County Auditor’s Office and election day will be March 5th.