PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION

This rockslide on Interstate 40 in Haywood County, N.C., will take
an estimated three months or longer to cleanup, lessening the
amount of sales tax and hotel-motel tax dollars coming into
Cocke County.

NEWPORT-Sunday's rockslide on Interstate 40 in North Carolina could put Cocke County's recently approved budget in a real crunch.

With a fund balance of just $27,000 in the General Fund, Cocke County Finance Director Anne Williams said today the loss of sales tax and hotel-motel tax dollars as result of the slide could put the county's budget in danger.

"After learning the magnitude of the slide and that it could take three months to clean up, the impact has sunk in," said Williams. "It could be very serious. We're operating on such a thin margin."

Williams said the General Fund isn't impacted as much by sales dollars as are other budgets, such as schools.

"Last year, we got about $430,000 in sales tax for the General Fund," she said. "Cocke County Schools got $3,060,000 and Newport Grammar got another half million. Also, some of that money goes to debt service.

"But, if we lose $28,000, we're in the red."

Williams said the timing of the rockslide is especially bad for the hotel-motel tax, which generated about $162,000 in additional funds for the General Fund last year.

"These are fairly good months for us to lose because of people visiting to see the fall colors and people traveling during the holidays," said Williams. "But, it could have been worse if it were during rafting season. Hopefully the road will re-opened by March and not impact rafting."

Williams said she isn't sure exactly how much of the sales tax and hotel-motel tax are generated by Interstate-40 traffic but said the losses could be significant.

Should tax revenues decline enough, Williams said the county would likely have to ask county officials to chop their budgets even more.

"We would have to ask the department heads to cut their discretionary spending," she said.

"Fortunately, I budgeted our sales tax at a flat rate this year. It was looking like our sales tax levels were starting to recover. But, with this happening, it could really set us back."

Cocke County Partnership President Don Hurst told the Plain Talk earlier this week that an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 cars travel Interstate 40 through Cocke County each day.