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Butler Co. sales tax maintains higher level

Katie Wedell, Special Projects Editor

Local shoppers will not benefit from a previously planned decrease in the sales tax any time soon. The Butler County Board of Commissioners voted last week to extend what began as a temporary sales tax increase through the end of 2007.

The county sales tax; which was increased to 6.5 percent in August 2005 in order to fund a new radio communications system for police, firefighters and emergency workers; will remain at that level through the end of the year, when it will be lowered to 6.25 percent. The tax was 6 percent in 2005 before the increase, initially set to last through June 2007.

Butler County Commissioner Chuck Furmon said the continued increase will not only pay for the updated communications system, but will also help replenish the county's diminished reserves.

"When you have a growing county you have a lot of demands," Furmon said.

He said the county's reserves, which have an effect on the government's ability to borrow money for major projects, are currently well below the normal level of $12 million.

"We have to get our financial stability where it should be," Furmon said.

He said a quarter of a percent increase in the sales tax results in $10 million dollars a year in revenue for the county.

Furmon said there were also increased costs for the new radio system that the board of commissioners did not anticipate.

The new system, now slated to cost between $31 and $35 million, will replace antiquated systems in many Butler County towns.

"None of those townships by themselves can afford a new system," Furmon said.

Oxford Police Chief Steve Schwein said all police, firefighters and emergency workers in the county will be getting new 800-frequency radios, an update Oxford has already acquired. These radios cost around $5,500 a piece. In addition, the county will be building 12 to 14 new radio towers that all of these radios can utilize.

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"(This) means our people can go anywhere in the county and communicate back to Oxford," Schwein said.

After the initial purchase and construction of this new equipment, the increased tax will help pay for the upkeep of the system. Schwein said about $1.5 million of the $10 million brought in annually will go toward maintenance of the new radios.

Construction of radio towers for this new system should begin in the spring.

Furmon said citizen response to the increase has been positive overall; however a challenge in the form of a referendum may be on its way.

Rawnica Dillingham, who is running for county commissioner against Furmon in the 2008 Republican primary, said she is looking into the possibility of a referendum because she feels the tax increase is a burden on Butler County senior citizens.

"All of these senior citizens on fixed incomes have a hard time," she said.

Dillingham hopes the board will consider her request to set up a senior citizens fund to help alleviate this burden.