Contemplation of extending a quarter cent sales tax that is scheduled to sunset at the end of this December was swiftly nixed during Monday’s Mohave County Board of Supervisors meeting in Kingman. Giving the 20-year tax approved by a previous board in 1999 new life would have required a unanimous vote of the board.
“I’m not interested in extending the sales tax,” board member Ron Gould said. “When you levy a tax and you tell people it’s going to end it needs to end.”
Gould said that it would be “disingenuous” to extend the tax when a previous board promised citizens it would have a 20 year life. Revenue generated by the tax over the last 19 years has helped fund capital projects such as the county’s new administrative facility, the new sheriff and the Adult Detention Center.
Supervisor Buster Johnson floated the concept that a one year extension would generate more than the $6-million needed for the sheriff’s office substation and county morgue facility he supports north of Lake Havasu City. Board Chairman Hildy Angius questioned whether the morgue should be part of that equation.
“I would not commit to it (tax extension) because my feeling and my opinion is that I wouldn’t vote for a morgue before an animal shelter,” Angius said. “I think we need an animal shelter more than a morgue.”
The positions by Gould and Angius shortened discussion of the matter. There was neither a motion nor a vote and the proposal died for lack of action.
