Fayetteville’s mayor said he will establish a city council committee to develop a proposal for county commissioners on the future of sales tax distribution. Both local governments had agreed to settle the issue by next year. Council members hope to renew the current sales tax distribution agreement based on population.
Mayor Mitch Colvin’s idea is to cap the percentage of revenue distribution through 2026. County government by law decides how to distribute the millions of dollars in state sales tax receipts returned to the community by the state.
The current inter-local distribution agreement will remain in effect until June 30, 2019. The towns of Spring Lake, Hope Mills, Stedman, Wade, Falcon, Godwin and Eastover are also parties to the arrangement. They’ve agreed to the current allocation made on a population basis, as well as a 50 percent rebate of city sales taxes to the county in areas annexed by Fayetteville in recent years.
The rebate is the heart of the issue. City council wants to phase it out and retain all sales tax proceeds received via the population method.
“I hope that as we approach this, we don’t even let ad valorem enter the vocabulary,” county commission chairman Larry Lancaster said recently. It’s the other method the county could use to allocate funds.
World War II hero dies
Former Staff Sgt. Russell Brown was one of the legendary paratrooperswho made every combat jump during World War II, forever cementing his place in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division. Brown passed away Aug. 31, at the age of 96 in Georgetown, Kentucky, according to his obituary.
A spokesman for the 82nd Airborne confirmed the Purple Heart recipient was one of the soldiers who parachuted into Salerno and Sicily, Italy, as well as Normandy, France, and Nijmegen, Holland.
Brown’s story was featured in “Four Stars of Valor: The Combat History of the 505th Parachute Infantry” and “All American, All the Way: The Combat History of the 82nd Airborne Division,” nonfiction accounts by Phil Nordyke, who told the story of his time as a mortar squad leader with Brown. After the Army, Brown went to work as an explosives technician at DuPont and Co. He is survived by two daughters, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, according to his obituary.
New police cars
The city police department will soon be replacing about 16 percent of its fleet of cruisers. Unlike many law enforcement agencies, the FPD has avoided switching to SUVs. Chief Gina Hawkins said the department can purchase additional patrol cars with the savings. City council just authorized the purchase of 46 Dodge Chargers at a cost of $1.375 million from Performance Automotive Group of Clinton. It was the low bidder of three dealerships that submitted bids. For several years, the Fayetteville Police Department has been phasing out Fords in favor of Dodge Charger Pursuit models with 5.7-liter Hemi-V8 engines.