The county commissioners asked their lawmakers for help with GenX, restaurant taxes, hotel taxes, sales taxes, public health and other matters.
The commissioners presented this and other requests during a breakfast meeting on Friday with the county’s six state legislators.
GenX With the potentially cancer-causing GenX chemical showing up in drinking water wells in southern Cumberland County near the Chemours chemical factory, the county commissioners would like money and other support for extending water lines to that area.
State Sen. Wesley Meredith asked if the county has approached neighboring Bladen County about extending water lines there as Bladen has water sources close by.
Restaurant food tax The county has a 1 percent tax sales on restaurant foods (in addition to the other local sales taxes) that has been used since the 1990s to pay for the Crown Coliseum’s construction cost and debt.
Hotel taxes The county wants the law that set up the local hotel tax to be modified.
Part of the hotel tax, like the restaurant tax, underwrites the Crown Coliseum.
Commissioner Jimmy Keefe said he would like the law changed so that the money can be directed toward projects other than the Crown once the Crown’s debt is paid off, such as an arts center or the Civil War museum.
Lawmakers from other parts of North Carolina could force Cumberland County into those guidelines if the local delegation attempts to advance a new hotel tax bill.
The county would like the state to itemize which taxes come from goods, and which ones come from services, so it can track whether local sales (and local sales taxes) are declining due to online sales that often aren’t taxed.