Frederick County Government and Frederick County Public Schools will co-host three town hall meetings leading up to the November election to provide residents with information about a local sales tax referendum that will appear on the ballot.

The town halls will be held on Thursday August 27th at Millbrook, September 1st at Sherando, and September 8th at James Wood.

In addition to the town hall meetings, tours will be held at Bass Hoover on September 2nd and Apple Pie Ridge on September 9th so residents can see some of the schools that would benefit from the revenue.

All town hall meetings and tours will be held from 6 pm -7 pm.

Virginia law allows local jurisdictions to seek a vote on authorizing additional local retail sales tax of up to 1% to fund construction or renovations of public schools.

If approved, the Board of Supervisors would enact the tax after 120 days and it would apply to taxable retail purchases like clothing, footwear, electronics, and restaurants but would exclude groceries and personal hygiene products.

The referendum will read on the ballot: “SHALL FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA, BE ALLOWED TO ENACT A LOCAL RETAIL SALES TAX OF UP TO ONE PERCENT (1%) TO PROVIDE FUNDS THAT CAN ONLY BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION OR MAJOR RENOVATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN FREDERICK COUNTY FOR A PERIOD OF NOT MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS?”