Citizens to vote on 1 percent sales tax for school construction

Pulaski County logoBy MIKE WILLIAMS

Patriot Publishing

Pulaski County voters will decide in November if the county’s sales tax will be increased by one percent with the revenue raised to be used solely for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at their meeting Monday night to approve a resolution directing County Attorney Tim Kirtner to file pleadings in Pulaski County Circuit Court requesting the court order a referendum on the sales tax question to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The resolution also authorizes Kirtner to prepare an explanation of the referendum question for publication in the newspaper twice prior to the vote.

State Code requires any sales tax enacted through a referendum to include an expiration date, and the supervisors set that date as June 30, 2046.

Supervisors took the action Monday following a vote last week by the Pulaski County School Board to notify the supervisors that it supports the county moving forward on the referendum.

Currently the total combined sales tax rate charged in Pulaski County is 6.3 percent. Of that amount 5.3 percent goes to the state and 1 percent goes to the county.

According to reports provided the supervisors each month by County Treasurer Melinda Worrell, in 10 of the past 12 months ending as of May 2026 the 1 percent sales tax generated well over $500,000 each month.

For instance, the report from Worrell included as part of Monday night’s meeting agenda shows that in May 2026, the 1 percent sales tax generated $529,945.98.

So, the new 1 percent sales tax – if approved by the voters – has potential to generate well over $6 million in additional revenue each year for capital projects for construction or renovation of schools.

County Administrator Jonathan Sweet told supervisors the referendum gives citizens an opportunity to decide if they want to invest in the public school system’s capital projects and to do so without utilizing real estate tax revenues.

“A tool such as this would enjoy revenues from everyone traveling up and down I-81 who stop in the county to enjoy our tourism and sports tourism,” Sweet said.

The recently approved state budget and related legislation passed in the 2026 General Assembly and signed by the governor authorized all counties and cities in the state to levy an additional 1 percent local sales tax through a referendum, with money raised to go only to school construction and renovation.

The last time such a referendum was on the local ballot in Pulaski County was in 2017 when voters overwhelmingly approved a $47 million bond referendum to build the consolidated Pulaski County Middle School.

Roughly 65 percent of county voters supported the issuance of general obligation bonds for the new school.