By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Pelham leaders are no longer considering doing away with sales tax discounts for business owners who pay their sales taxes on time each month, according to the Pelham City Council President.

During a July 23 Pelham business council meeting, Council President Rick Hayes said the proposal is no longer on the table.

“We talked about it over the last week, and we felt it was not appropriate to do away with the discount,” Hayes said. “I think the majority of the City Council is comfortable with not changing the discount right now.”

During a recent meeting, City Council members said they were considering eliminating the sales tax discounts, which are awarded to business owners when they pay their sales taxes before the delinquent date each month.

City leaders said they originally planned to include cutting the sales tax discounts while also raising Pelham’s sales tax by 1 percent to feed a fund to support the city’s schools.

Through the discounts, businesses can save up to $400 each month on sales taxes by filing on time.

“We felt, for our businesses, that this is not the appropriate time to do this,” Hayes said. “We’ve decided to push that aside and not do that.”