BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Clay County Commissioners, during their July 8 meeting, voted down a proposed increase in the county’s electric franchise tax, which would have nearly tripled the levy from 4% to 10%
Commissioner Jim Renninger, who supported the increase and was outvoted 4-1, argued that the utilities franchise tax was fairer than property taxes because only property owners directly pay ad valorem taxes. He said “everybody” pays for electricity.
Board Chair Betsy Condon declared her opposition to the increase in two prior public meetings.
She said that many of the residents in her western Clay County district are senior citizens on fixed incomes who have to make difficult choices between paying their electric bills and having their prescriptions refilled.
Commissioner John Sgromolo criticized Clay Electric Cooperative, which he said sent out communications that undermined the county’s efforts to raise the tax.
He called the nonprofit utility’s efforts to kill the franchise tax increase “underhanded” and accused the utility of hypocrisy because it recently raised rates on its members.
“They cited that their rate increase was because of inflation,” Sgromolo said. “They put out a post on Facebook on June 3 that said they’re paying 79% more for poles, 150% more for underground cable, 219% more for pad-mount transformers, and 121% more for overhead wire.”
Sgromolo added that the Clay County Utility Authority is considering a 3.75% increase in water rates and a 3.75% increase in wastewater rates for its upcoming fiscal year.
The commissioner then went down a laundry list of cost increases the county has observed over the past few years.
“Fire Station 11 was quoted in 2018 and 2019, at $250.30 per square foot,” he said. “The per square foot cost of Fire Station 20 in 2024 was $614.59. That’s a 143% increase per square foot.”
Sgromolo said road resurfacing went for $127,000 per mile in 2022 and jumped to $209,000 per mile in 2024, a 64% increase.
He also cited the county’s construction of Atlantis Drive in 2022, which cost $7.3 million per mile. Spenser Industrial Drive, built two years later, cost $15.1 million per mile, a 105% increase. He added that a road grader was priced at $237,000 in 2021, but by 2025, it had increased to $328,000, representing a 47% increase.
The county collected $4.9 million in utility franchise tax revenues in 2024. The 10% rate would have yielded $12.3 million.
Earlier in the day, during a budget workshop, Assistant County Manager Troy Nagle presented commissioners with 26 proposed budget cuts for the upcoming year, totaling $6.2 million.
