How Much is the Local Meals Tax Paying Off?
For our latest You Ask... Patch Answers, we look at just how much the tax is earning for the town.
How much did adding a few cents to a dining bill pay off for the town?
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At Town Meeting in 2011, voters approved a 0.75% local meals tax by a vote of 65-29. So how much money is the town seeing from what equates to 75 cents on a bill of $100?
During the debate for the local meals tax, several town officials said that they while they don't enjoy adding new taxes, they supported the change.
"I certainly understand the difficulty of the word tax, and I don't take it lightly," said Mike Newhouse, who is now chairman of the Board of Selectmen, at the time of the 2011 Town Meeting. "One of the arguments I've heard against this measure is that 'A tax is a tax is a tax.' I do believe there are differences between various taxes. An optional tax like this would largely be subsidized by folks that largely don't live in town."
According to Town Accountant Mike Morris, in the 10 months of the last fiscal year that the change was in place, the town saw an increase of $210,845. During the first quarter of this fiscal year, that number was already at $69,286.01.
While Morris said the town budgeted with an expected revenue of $250,000 for Fiscal Year 2013, that total is expected to reach closer to about $258,000.
Do you have a question you'd like to see answered in You Ask...Patch Answers? Let us know in the comments section or e-mail Local Editor Matt Schooley.
Kevin MacDonald
7:49 am on Wednesday, December 26, 2012
On its best day, this Board of Selectmen is a disaster! If the Town is seeing anything from this tax, it is seeing it used to hire unnecessary employees and over staff departments. There is the straw that broke the camels back. How long until Town officials declare a pension fund crisis? How long until taxpayers declare a personal fund crisis? Make no mistake these declarations will be the direct result of inept government officials. How long until people realized and ADMIT that the tax payers are being lied to and deceived? We were told that the proposed high school would cost the tax payers the equivalent to a cup of coffee per day. Since then there have been two additional major increases in taxes. I remember the tax rate was $9 per thousand and the Town was able to fund its budget. Since then we have had additional commercial development and taxes from this development and we still see major tax increases. Wake up Wilmington and realize the government waste. Get rid of this Board of Selectmen.
webmom
10:33 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
Hi Matt,
My Ask Patch question: my taxes last year were $5,433.86 and this year they are $6,101.36..thats a 12.28% increase. I know taxes go up every year, but that seems extraordinarily high. I didn't think property taxes couldn't go up that much without an override of some sort. Any comments would be appreciated.
Wayne Sullivan
10:57 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
The overall increase includes an increase in the residential tax rate not based on an override plus the first payment towards the new high school which was based on a 25 year debt exclusion that was approved at the last town meeting. This is the first tax bill where the high school payments are included.