APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson is telling the County Board members to read his lips, no new taxes.
He hopes the idea of a .05% percent increase in sales tax just goes away, but at the very least, that it gets voted down tonight Tuesday night.
“This got off on the wrong foot, he said. “This is being rushed through. People just have not had the chance to participate and to make sure that their voices are heard.”
The tax was voted on and approved by the Finance Committee last week Tuesday and is up for a vote by the full County Board a week later. Nelson sees that as a problem.
“This will be the day after Memorial Day weekend, I think that is a huge problem, and the more I talk to people, they are concerned and rightfully so.”
He says it was not until Monday or Tuesday of last week that the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce even heard about it.
“That is going to affect them dearly and they are going to be coming out with a poll that they took of their members that is very telling.”
Some on the County Board say the budget is not sustainable without it and say the money would go into projects.
Nelson calls that irresponsible.
“You need to have a clear purpose and then it behooves you to go into the community and talk to people who are affected by this.”
66 of the 72 counties in Wisconsin have the added tax from the state tax, but Nelson says just because other counties are doing it, doesn’t mean Outagamie County should.
“The process is not good and the fact some folks are just hearing about this is a big problem,” Nelson says.
Last week some of the Supervisors held a press conference firing back at the County Executive about, what they call, “misleading” sales tax ads.
Last Thursday, County Executive Tom Nelson began running the paid advertisements.
County Supervisors say 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.
“Why did they have about a dozen supervisors come out a few hours before Memorial Day weekend?” asked Nelson. “I think the tide is slowly turning and some of the supervisors are concerned about this.”
If the vote does pass, Nelson can veto it, but he says he does not want to go that direction.
“I don’t think we are there yet, and I really hope they take the time to listen. I can’t imagine that they are not hearing voices of concerns,” he said. “I would hope we would take some extra time to allow people to be heard and participate on this very important issue and I hope things change.”
Nelson says his hope Tuesday night is that the board changes direction and votes it down.
