ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. — The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors approved a cigarette tax last night that could add up to .02 cents per cigarette sold in the county.

The tax will only apply to cigarettes, as opposed to other nicotine products such as vaping cartridges and smokeless tobacco. It will also only be implemented in county localities that don’t already impose a cigarette tax.

District 5 Supervisor Joel Hensley moved to approve the tax, which is intended to alleviate the county’s increased 2024-2025 school budget.

“The funds provided by zero tax will be directed to the school operating fund,” Hensley said. However, the proposed ordinance would enact a cigarette tax in the amount of up to .02 cents per cigarette. We will work out what that rate will actually be in the budget at a later time.”

The motion passed four to one, with District 2 Supervisor Sallie Wolf Garrison casting the dissenting vote. The board previously adopting a county cigarette tax in March 2021, but took it off the table one month later.

Solar facility problems

The board is also considering revoking a special use permit for Sun Ridge Solar, as development of the facility’s property has proven to be a nuisance for residents near the site.

Board members decided to postpone a vote on the fate of the local solar facility as they gather feedback from the public about the project’s impact. County resident Paul Marshall told the board during a public hearing that the environmental cost of developing the site has outweighed any potential benefits.

“Driving down [Route] 340, if you look to your left or right, whichever way you’re going, all you see is wavy brown,” Marshall said. “For a long time you had trees there, and now they’re all gone.”

County Attorney Thomas Miller said the developer for Sun Ridge Solar has acknowledged the situation.

“The developer’s attention has been gotten, and they are sincere about fixing things,” Miller said. “They acknowledge that stuff got off-track. Things happened that shouldn’t have happened and got out of sequence, and that’s where a lot of the problems came from.”