A Quarter-Cent Is Not a Blank Check

Another six figures would help, but the county still has to decide what it needs, what it wants, and what it can afford

#Opinion • 8:45 a.m. Aug. 28, 2026

There are only two ways to make a budget work: bring in more money or spend less.

Most of Moore County’s conversation lately has centered on the first one. The proposed quarter-cent sales tax deserves to go before voters, and if they approve it, the extra revenue would help the county budget.

But if we are going to have an honest conversation about money, we cannot stop there. Moore County also needs to talk about cutting expenses.

Let the people decide

The Metro Council is scheduled to decide Aug. 31 whether to send the quarter-cent increase to the November ballot. It should.

If approved by voters, Moore County’s combined sales tax rate would move from 9.5% to 9.75%, or another 25 cents on every $100 in taxable purchases. I have already made the case that voters deserve the chance to decide for themselves, and nothing about that has changed.

There is also a sound argument for leaning a little more heavily on sales tax in a county where visitors spend a whole lot of money. Every dollar collected from somebody passing through Lynchburg is a dollar that does not have to come entirely from the people who live here year-round.

That matters, but it is only half the conversation.

Another dollar in, another dollar saved

Anybody who has ever sat down with a stack of bills and a checking account knows how this works. When things get tight, you look for another dollar coming in, then you look around and see where you can save one going out.

County government ought to do the same.

Earlier estimates put the quarter-cent at roughly $80,000 to $100,000 a year. Depending on tourism traffic, it could creep toward $125,000 – maybe even higher. Anything in six figures would be a real boon to Moore County’s budget.

That is not pocket change around here. But new money cannot simply become new spending.

If voters agree to put a little more into the sales-tax bucket, that should not be a signal to start reaching for the wish list. It should help shore up what we already have, take some pressure off the years ahead, and give us a little more room to deal with needs we already know are coming.

The needs are real

And there is no shortage of them.

The nut to crack is how to do more for our seniors at the Active Life Center. We need a full-time Codes Department. We are embarking on another 20-year land-use and transportation plan, and this one needs some teeth.

We need a long-range plan for the future of the Metro Moore Fire Department. We need to raise the pay for our deputies. We need to make sure our EMS remains the envy of the counties around us.

That is already a pretty good handful of hot-button issues, and we still have not touched increased funding for the Highway Department, a long-range plan for our schools, or whatever need comes walking through the door next.

None of those are foolish ideas. Most are not luxuries, either. That is what makes this hard.

There is another reality we need to keep in mind: Moore County has limited practical room to keep expanding its business footprint. We are getting pretty close to ya-got-what-ya-got.

That means we cannot sit around waiting for some huge wave of commercial growth to solve the revenue problem for us. We have to make the best use of what we have, and do it in a way that serves all our neighbors.

Even if we keep growing the penny, we still have to stay vigilant on both sides of the budget.

Turn the budget upside down

If we are asking folks to put another quarter-cent into the sales-tax bucket, we ought to be just as willing to look at what is already going out.

Where can we save? Where are we spending because we need to, and where are we spending because we always have?

I do not have a list of departments that should be cut, and I am not going to pretend I do. Maybe a vacant position can stay open a little longer. Maybe a purchase can wait. Maybe two departments can share something they are paying for separately. Maybe a contract or an old line item deserves another look.

And maybe, after all that, we find some departments are already running about as lean as they can.

That is fine, too. The point is to look before deciding more revenue fixes the problem.

Cutting is not slashing

Budget discipline does not mean marching into a meeting with a red pen and chopping 5% off every department. That is not budgeting. That is bookkeeping by chainsaw.

Some county expenses are mandated. Some are contractual. Some are simply the cost of providing the services people expect when they call 911, drive down a county road, send a child to school, walk into a courtroom, or need a public record.

Those things cost money. But somewhere between “everything is essential” and “cut it all” is the responsible middle ground.

No blank check

If Moore County voters approve the quarter-cent, that money should first help steady the budget before it starts paying for every good idea that comes along.

Pay the bills we already have. Ease pressure on future tax increases. Build a little breathing room. Keep looking for places to trim without cutting into services people truly depend on.

There is no shortage of worthy places to spend another dollar in Moore County. That is exactly why we have to be careful with it.

If new revenue comes in the front door and new spending walks in right behind it, we have not solved much of anything. We have just built ourselves a bigger budget.

Ask both questions

Tax debates have a way of settling into two camps. One side says government needs more money. The other says government spends too much.

Maybe Moore County would be better served by asking both questions at once.

Could the county use another six figures in annual revenue? Absolutely. Does sales tax make sense as part of the answer when visitors help shoulder some of the load? It deserves a fair look. Should voters be the ones to make that call? Yes.

But we should be just as willing to ask what can be delayed, reduced, shared, renegotiated, or dropped altogether.

Put the referendum before the people. Tell them what it costs and what it could bring in, then let them decide whether another quarter-cent is worth it.

Then take that same hard look at the budget. Show us what is required, what is essential, what can wait, and what we can live without.

A quarter-cent may help fill the bucket. That does not mean we quit looking for leaks.