Following discussion on how much revenue the local option sales tax brings to counties, the Washington County Board of Supervisors approved the second and waived the third reading of their once-every decade ordinance for the tax during Tuesday’s meeting.

The board approved the first reading last week, and following confirmation that the cities of Brighton and Riverside extended their sunset date for the tax during the November general election, the second and possible third readings were on this week’s agenda. There is no sunset on the tax for the county’s other incorporated and non-incorporated areas, and this tax collects an additional 1% to the state sales tax of 6%. Upon request from Supervisor Jack Seward, Jr., Supervisor Marcus Fedler explained why he voted against the tax upon its first and second readings, “This isn’t a democracy, as much as we hear about it being a democracy, it’s not. I was elected to represent the Constitution in the presence of the people, for the people, by the people, all that. That’s what I’m supposed to do, and so I feel it’s appropriate to vote no for something I can vote no for.”

Fedler mentioned the state’s approximate $1.2 billion budget surplus as further reasoning to oppose the tax. Seward asked him if the supervisors should deny what the residents of Brighton and Riverside voted for, to which Fedler replied “absolutely.” Supervisor Bob Yoder posed what was wrong with the state having a budget surplus, as well as commenting that $1 billion is not as much money as it used to be, and that it could change along with the economy. Fedler stated his understanding that only 44% of the local tax goes to the county with the rest going back to the state, which County Treasurer Jeff Garrett later clarified that it’s actually 44% that goes to the county government, and the rest that’s distributed to the county’s municipalities. The board then approved to waive the third reading unanimously.