A proposed tax referendum in Henry County is on hold while the county school board and county commission dot some i’s and cross some t’s in the language of the ballot measure.
Back in May, the county commission approved holding a special election on two measures: a proposal to extend a one-mill ad valorem tax set to expire in October and a proposal to levy three additional mills. The existing tax was not re-authorized by a required supermajority of voters in an earlier election last year.
According to Henry County Schools administrators, the continuation of the one mill tax and the additional tax is needed to continue funding of the system’s NJROTC program and to fund other needs being impacted by state funding woes.
The Henry County Commission recently asked the Henry County School Board to rework some of the language in the ballot measure.
Jo Ann Smith, probate judge/commission chair, said the language of the ballot measure needs to be worded so that the money raised could be spent for other things in case NJROTC was ever disbanded. Smith said she wants NJROTC protected, but if the program were ever dissolved, under the current language of the measure the money couldn’t be put to other use.
Smith said the school board also needed to correct some other procedural errors regarding the referendum.
“It wasn’t as cut and dry as everyone thought it was,” she said.
Some members of the county commission also want the tax enacted for just eight years instead of the 30 the referendum would allow if passed in its current form.
Henry County School Superintendent Dennis Coe said the board would work to accommodate the commission.
“We just want people to have the opportunity to vote,” he said.
The NJROTC program costs about $300,000 per year to operate. The one-mill tax raises about $150,000 for the school system. The additional three-mill tax would raise $450,000.
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