There is no effort to enact a parks and recreation tax in Halifax County, officials said today and Monday.
The idea there is one comes from an advertisement published Sunday in a local newspaper by a group called Halifax Taxpayers United and several posts about the matter on social media.
The ad, posted with the heading Stop the Halifax Parks & Recreation Tax in all capital letters, claims, “The Halifax County Commissioners are being asked to create a new County Department of Parks & Recreation. Initially funded with grant money, the continuing costs of supporting this proposed $8 million parks system would be dumped on the taxpayers at the rate of $500,000 per year.”
The ad continues that the new county parks and recreation director and staff would be paid $125,000 per year with increases rising to $350,000 per year, “at a time when our people are struggling to survive on a per capita income of only $17,937 per year. This is very wrong.”
The advertisement encourages citizens to call commissioners and tell them “you cannot afford to pay higher taxes for more high priced county employees. Tell the commissioners to stop this expensive boondoggle. County government exists to help the people — not hurt them.”
The advertisement ends by saying high taxes hurt people. It says the ad was paid for by Halifax Taxpayers United.
How acceptance of a recreation master plan last month, with no vote taken on funding, became misconstrued the commissioners were going to consider a tax is something County Manager Tony Brown doesn't understand.
“We didn't put any money on this,” Brown said Monday. “This is second hand. There is no intent on creating a department and paying a salary. We're not creating a department.”
Brown said, “All that was approved was the master plan. We have no plans to create anything. That's why we're putting an advisory committee together and organizing who needs to be on it and how it should be run.”
Board Chair Vernon Bryant said today he has seen the ad.
He said he is also aware of the significant step that was made in accepting the master plan. “First of all, health in Halifax County is not good. We're next to last. We've got to figure out things to make them better.”
Talk of countywide recreation has been in discussion a while, Bryant said. “We have taken the position we accepted the plan in that we would appoint the advisory committee. We have agreed to move forward in that process of appointing the committee. We want it to be representative of the entire county.”
The answer to the tax question is, Bryant said, “There is no money. I hate to talk like this. I'm not saying in years to come that we may reconsider. As of right now we've got public safety, school issues. We voted here recently to move forward with Manning school. Weldon has needs, Halifax County schools has needs.”
Bryant said the short answer is to seek grant funds to build a county recreation program. “We've had some businesses step up. Geenex has helped as much as they can. We've got some things out and other people and businesses helping us out.”
The chairman said of the ad, “The majority of it is way off base. The only thing the Halifax County Board of Commissioners did was we heard the plan and we're going to appoint the advisory committee.”
Commissioner Rives Manning was the first to speak up when the final plan was presented and say there was no money to move forward. “It's based on a lot assumptions,” he said today of the ad, explaining the board views the master plan as a roadmap. “We don't have any money to put into it.”
The surveys and planning that led to the final document, Manning said, were funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation.
Manning said he believes grant funding is the way to proceed with a county recreation department. “I was pleased to see Geenex offer some use of their property. The support coming from a new Halifax County industry, I think that was a very good and significant contribution.”