An effort to educate citizens and voters about the August 3 referendum on increasing the sales tax is now underway.

Some 5,000 brochures with answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the sales tax increase have been distributed throughout the county. County officials, including commissioners and administrators have been, and will be, available to speak to groups interested in hosting them.

“We are only permitted to educate, not promote passage of the referendum,” County Manager Ken Windley recently told The Robesonian

“The last time there was a referendum on increasing the sales tax there was a lot of misinformation, so we are being proactive in getting the facts out.”

Robeson County voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, August 3 and decide whether to increase sales tax from 7.75 per cent to 8 per cent. The tax on groceries would rise from 2 per cent to 2.26 per cent.

If approved, the sales tax would generate about $2 million annually for Robeson, which would use the money for projects such as easing overcrowding at the county courthouse, county recycling, expanding the county detention center, and parking in downtown Lumberton.