Voters in Pike County have agreed to abolish a 3/8 cent sales tax that was created to support a now-closed hospital, the AP reports. The tax was enacted in 2007 to support Pike County Memorial Hospital in Murfreesboro and generates an estimated $300,000 per year. The hospital closed in November 2009 — but the tax continued to be collected to repay the hospital’s debts.
County Judge Donald Baker told the Texarkana Gazette that the debts — except for salaries owed two doctors — have been repaid. Baker said the doctors’ salaries will be repaid by the time the tax ends in July. The measure to end the tax passed on a 474-20 vote on Tuesday.