Bishop Overestimated Sales Tax Revenue From Dollar General Rezone

The Town of Bishop will receive only a small amount of sales tax revenue from the planned Dollar General on High Shoals Road at U.S. 441, not the $80,000 annually projected by town leaders in April when they annexed and rezoned land for the convenience store.

The amount of money the town will receive–less than $550 annually if company estimates of sales are correct--is exactly the same as the amount it would have received had Dollar General located outside the town limits.

The expectation that the town would gain sales tax revenue from the annexation is the result of a misreading of the intergovernmental agreements between the town and the county.

The agreement for the Local Option Sales Tax does not allocate any revenue to Bishop, and the agreement for the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax allocates revenue based on population.

Bishop has less than 1 percent of the county’s population.

For more on the story, please go to Oconee County Observations.