Anson recovering from loss of Walmart

WADESBORO — Despite starting off the 2020-2021 fiscal year in the midst of a pandemic and the closing of Walmart, Wadesboro is still seeing sales tax revenue even with — and potentially better — compared to the previous year.

“With Walmart closing earlier this year, we had no idea what that was going to do to our sales tax,” Wadesboro Town Manager David Edwards said. “We don’t get breakdown data from the state. Whenever we get a check, it is just a lump sum. They don’t give us a breakdown of which vendor is producing what sales tax.”

Instead, Edwards and the town council had to take a guess on how significant the closing of Walmart would be for the community. He believed there would be a large decrease of about 20 to 30% in sales tax, but the exact number was unknown.

Walmart was the largest retailer and largest single source of sales tax in the county, according to Edwards.

The town prepared for Walmart’s closure by reducing the sales tax expectations by about 25%, or $350,000, for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

“Our budget wasn’t exactly $350,000 less, but it was significantly less than it was the prior year,” Edwards said.

Other areas made up for the difference in a sales tax decrease, such as better property taxes. The overall budget was reduced by $160,000 for the fiscal year.

Luckily, the devastating news of Walmart closing it’s doors did not truly hurt the town or county’s sales tax revenue.

“We would have known by now if there was going to be a drop that’s attributed to Walmart,” Edwards said. “And clearly there has not been. Our revenues, our sales tax, are actually a little higher than they were through the first four months of the previous fiscal year.”

Why that is cannot be attributed to one single thing, according to Edwards. There could be many reasons why.

After Walmart closed on April 4, buyers turned to other sources in the area to buy groceries or hardware supplies. Consumers could have been paying more at these retailers which would mean a higher sales tax for the products.

Other reasons could be people decided to stay local when buying instead of traveling far during the pandemic or even the government assistance from the stimulus checks or unemployment funds may have led to an increase of buying.

“At the end of the day, our community, our county has really stepped up,” Edwards said. “They certainly need to be applauded for not immediately going to other places out of the county…I’m very very appreciative of that. It’s going to make a difference for us to not be years behind because of Walmart leaving.”

Even after nine months in the pandemic, Edwards is celebrating the citizens still staying local and buying local.

“If things continue the way things are going right now, we will at least meet and most likely exceed our year-over-year sales tax revenue, which is just incredible,” Edwards said. “It’s not even close to what I anticipated.”

The town is looking at a possible 4.5% increase for the year.

“We have been trending higher the last few years,” Edwards said. “On average we’ve been averaging around six to eight percent since at least I’ve been here…It seems that will continue which is amazing.”

Edwards is amazed at the town and how people are really stepping up to support local businesses and by the numbers from the sales tax, it really paying off to keep the town afloat even in a recession.