Lynchburg, VA - Good news if you like to take your family out to eat in Lynchburg. City Council voted to strike the meals tax increase from the proposed budget.
There's already a 6.5 % tax in place in the city. The proposal wanted to raise that to 7.5 % and put the money toward paying for a new Heritage High School.
Council members say they didn't want to have one of the highest meals taxes in the state and the tax unfairly targets city restaurants. Restaurant owners agree.
"There are a lot of issues out there, funding the schools, and council has a tough job. But we definitely felt like our industry was singled out unfairly, and I think the process worked itself out nicely," said Rob Pearson, owner of Charley's restaurant.
City Manager Kimball Payne says he recommended to council to remove the tax based off of strong feedback from the community and some recent adjustments. Those adjustments add up to the amount that would have been generated per year by the meals tax.
