Local News
Ridley plans freeport referendum for fall
The thought of carpet manufacturers large and small leaving the county has prompted Murray County Sole Commissioner David Ridley to plan a freeport tax referendum for the general election ballot this November.
Freeport allows a government to reduce taxes on inventory for its businesses, with the end goal of encouraging them to stay in the community — and it is hoped, lure new business.
“I hope it will be a big step to keep our carpet manufacturers from moving to Calhoun or Dalton,” Ridley said. “If we get it passed, maybe others will look more favorably toward locating here in the future.”
Ridley said freeport would initially “impact” the county’s tax base by $900,000 in lost revenue.
“Lost revenue to the county would be around $241,000, and to the school system it would be around $644,000,” Ridley said. “We’ll do a 20-40-60-80 implementation to lessen the shock of that $900,000. By doing that, it will impact the county at $48,000 a year, and the school system at $128,000 a year.”
Ridley said he will meet with school Superintendent Vickie Reed and her staff about freeport this week.
Dinah Rowe, president of the Chatsworth-Murray County Chamber of Commerce, implied the county is in a do-or-die situation regarding the loss of tax revenue, and that not passing freeport would “hurt” the county.
“I think we’ll lose the tax income anyway if we don’t pass it,” she said. “I think companies will move somewhere else where they’ll have it, and if we lose the company we lose the jobs also. If it passes, it will help bring prosperity in, especially since everyone else already has it. I hope (Ridley) puts it on the ballot, and I hope it passes.”
Before the city of Chatsworth passed its freeport measure in November of last year, the city and Murray were the only city and county in northwest Georgia that did not have a freeport tax exemption, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
A freeport exemption on certain manufactured goods passed in Whitfield County in November of 2008. In that same election, Dalton voters approved freeport inventory tax exemptions for partially finished goods and raw materials, finished goods held by the manufacturer and finished goods stored for shipment out of state. The Dalton City Council later voted to cut the city’s property tax on some types of inventory by 20 percent, effective in January of this year.
Murray County Manager Tom Starnes said application to the state elections commission has been made to put the measure on the ballot, but a decision had not been made as to how many questions will be on the referendum. Chatsworth had three questions, one exempting a manufacturer’s raw materials and goods-in-process; the second regarding a manufacturer’s finished goods; and the third concerning finished goods held for out-of-state shipments. Voters cast ballots on each question.
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