Fayetteville, No Increased Property Tax

The Fayetteville City Council voted no on raising the property taxes. At the Ward 4 meeting last night we discussed the tax. Shirley Lucus and Lioneld Jordan said that most of the calls they've received were against it. A quick show of hands also indicated that most of us weren't in favor of it either. Lioneld said that they haven't even seen the budget yet and that there might be things they could eliminate. He mentioned $10,000 for a city council retreat. Yeah, that really needs to go. Also mentioned was that Fayetteville was going through an adjustment right now and the sales tax from Sam's Club and the Malco Theater could make up the difference next year. If they raised the tax and the sales taxes went up the city wouldn't reduce the property tax. The city would get use to the increased tax money and continue to spend at that level. If the city council makes some adjustments to the budget and watches it carefully next year I think they can get people to approve a tax increase if it's needed. They are just going to have to work to keep people informed on what's happening to it.