APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Outagamie County board members are firing back at the County Executive about, what they call, “misleading” sales tax ads.
On Thursday, County Executive Tom Nelson began running the paid advertisements.
The ads do not say the 0.5% county sales tax proposal will deliver a net tax reduction to average Outagamie County households, according to board members.
“County Executive’s paid political advertising campaign on this issue, is not only unprecedented, in the history of Outagamie County, it’s unwelcomed,” explains Jim Nooyen, County Board Chair.
At the heart of the issue is a 0.5% county sales tax proposal, which the board supports and County Executive Nelson is vehemently against.
The county board not only believes the advertisements are misleading, but also says that they are unwelcomed by residents.
“People have had enough of the political games in Washington and Madison,” explains Nooyen.
On Tuesday at an Outagamie County Finance Committee meeting, County Executive Nelson remarked that the idea was half-baked and not sensible.
“It doesn’t make sense to raise one tax, to institute one tax to pay for another, there are no track records for other counties,” says Nelson.
At a press conference Friday afternoon, board members addressed that claim.
“This worked in Sheboygan County, where they have seen three consecutive years of tax reduction since implementing a similar proposal,” says Nooyen.
Nelson previously commented that the county simply needs to control spending and that they already have a declining tax rate.
“I think if you wanted to make a big change like this you would have to have a compelling reason, you would have to have a clear purpose or offer a new service and that’s not happening,” he explains.
Board members opted to blame the inadequate budgeting on Nelson, himself.
“His budgeting is not working,” explains Nooyen. “We can not continue to raise property taxes and saddle residents with debt.”
The full county board is set to vote on the proposal next Tuesday.
Even if it passes, County Executive Tom Nelson can still veto it.
