By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
As Ellis County officials wrestle with the potential for some difficult budget decisions in the coming years, commissioner support for a county-wide sales tax continues to gain traction.
At Monday’s county commission meeting, all three commissioners expressed interest in bringing a county-wide sales tax to the voters.
The county’s major source of revenue is property tax based on assessed valuation and a sales tax would serve as an alternative funding source. Any proposed sales tax would need to be approved by the voters.
County sales tax can be set in quarter-cent increments up to 1 percent.
County Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said Monday, based on tax collections in 2017, a quarter-cent sales tax would have generated about $1.55 million.
Commissioner Dustin Roths said he would be in favor of a quarter-cent sales tax that would go to fund Emergency Medical Services.
“Something that we provide that none of the municipalities provide on their own, (and) something that we could possibly market as a county when we are trying to attract people to use our communities in Ellis County for retirement communities,” Roths said.
Under state statute, the county could keep all the revenue of a sales tax specifically defined for health services.
Roths said with the annual EMS budget approximately $3 million, the additional $1.55 million from the sales tax would free up funds to go to fund other county departments.
Commissioner Butch Schlyer said he believes the county needs to do something.
“Following the next couple of budgets that we are going to be doing and the public sees the draconian cuts we’re going to be making, there might be more appetite for a sales tax with the voting public,” Schlyer said, “because it’s going to get bad before it gets any better.”
Schlyer and fellow Commissioner Dean Haselhorst both appeared to be in favor of a half-cent sales tax, but Haselhorst said he is not in favor of a tax that would not be shared among the other cities within the county.
“I know Victoria has projects they want to do. I know Schoenchen has projects they want to do. … Ellis is the same way,” Haselhorst said. “I just think it’s a good way going forward to work with not only the city of Hays but our outlying communities.”
Haselhorst said he would rather pay sales tax than property tax, a statement Schlyer and Roths agreed with.
If the sales tax is divided between the four cities within Ellis County, the percentages are based on population. The city of Hays would collect the largest share at 49.12 percent, Ellis County would get 41.65 percent, Ellis’ share would be 5.75 percent, the city of Victoria would get 3.06 percent and Schoenchen 0.41 percent.
“The only way I will vote for a sales tax is if the city of Hays gets their share, Schoenchen, all of them,” Haselhorst said.
Haselhorst said he does not believe the voters will support a sales tax that only benefits the county.
“I think that’s going to crash quicker than you can imagine,” Haselhorst said. “If we’re going to say Ellis County is going to keep it all, that’s going to crash. It may not, but I feel it’s going to crash.”
The idea of what is palatable to voters was a topic that weighed heavily on Monday’s discussion.
Roths said he believes that voters may be more open to passing a sales tax if it helps keep the current level of EMS service that is being provided.
He added that it will be an even more difficult discussion if the sales tax doesn’t pass and the commission is forced to look at scaling down — or eliminating some services.
“That would be just governing based on the idea that we don’t use those ambulances enough, but all we know that the people of Ellis (and) the people of Victoria are emotional about wanting to keep their things and that’s why we don’t ever like talking about them,” Roths said.
Commissioner Haselhorst said he would like to see the revenue earmarked for the Road and Bridge Department and EMS.
“Over the next 10 years, (Public Works Director) Bill Ring’s going to need $10 million to fix roads and bridges, if not more,” Haselhorst said. “Every year, (former Public Works Director) Mike Graf (and) Bill Ring always volunteered money out of money and, by doing that, we’ve created a shortfall for Bill.”
Schlyer said he doesn’t know if people in the city would support a sales tax that helps fund repairs to roads and bridges within the county.
“I don’t know that a lot of the people living in the city really care about what bridges we have to fix out here in the far ends of the county,” Schlyer said. “It could be much harder for people to vote for a sales tax when they never really see the result of that tax.
“I just felt like EMS would be a much easier sell to the public,” he added. “If we reach a point to where we say we’ve got to close up an ambulance in Ellis or Victoria, people are going to scream at us.”
Haselhorst was a member of the commission in 2013 when voters approved a sales tax passed to pay for construction of the Emergency Services building in Hays and the remodeling projects at the jail, courthouse and administrative office.
“It’s all about communication and being up front with the people and letting them know what we’re doing,” Haselhorst said. “Maybe they don’t get to the county very often, but the first time they go across country to Cedar Bluff Lake and they can’t get there because we closed the Golf Course Road because the bridge is out, I think that will be eye-opening.”
He said the potential success will be determined by how the commission, employees and county administrator Smith-Hanes “sells” it.
“Just to clarify, Mr. Chair, Phil will not be selling anything,” Smith-Hanes said. “Phil will be providing unbiased information to residents.”
In order for revenue to collection begin on Jan. 1, 2020, a special election would have to be called by the middle of September. If the vote was held during the next general election, in November 2020, a sales tax would go into effect April 1, 2021.
The commission plans to reach out to the city leaders of Hays, Victoria, Ellis and Schoenchen to get their input.
But all three commissioners stressed they needed to move forward with the budget process as if the vote would fail.
“We could take this to a vote, to the public and it may not pass,” Haselhorst said.
Roths added, “We have to basically govern this county like it will not pass until it does.”