June 25, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Should DeKalb County have a $50 wheel tax?
Local voters will get to decide that question in November.
During Monday night’s monthly meeting, the county commission adopted an amended resolution to have a public referendum placed on the ballot for an up or down vote on a $50 wheel tax instead of the original proposal for $100 to support the debt service fund.
If approved, County Mayor Matt Adcock said the revenue raised from the wheel tax will offset somewhat the 51-cent tax increase for debt service and bring the property tax hike for debt service next year (2025-26) down from 51 cents to 33 cents.
Commissioner Tom Chandler made the motion to amend the resolution to a $50 wheel tax saying he thought it would have a better chance of being approved by the voters than a $100 wheel tax. The resolution, as amended was adopted on a 13-1 vote. Those in favor were Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Larry Green, Tony Luna, Tom Chandler, Andy Pack, Mathias Anderson, Glynn Merriman, Daniel Cripps, Susannah Cripps, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, and Tony (Cully) Culwell. Greg Matthews voted no saying he didn’t like how the resolution was written.