As the King George County Board of Supervisors gather to meet at 5:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month, restaurant owners are gearing up for a dinner rush.
The repeal of the sellers’ discount — a 3% deduction to the meals tax for any restaurant owner who pays their monthly tax expenses on time — was on the menu at Tuesday night’s board of supervisors meeting.
Concerned restaurant owners were forced to call in or email their statements opposing the repeal of the rebate. There was also confusion related to the phone number to dial in to the meeting, so the supervisors tabled the discussion until their Aug. 4 meeting and left the public hearing open so more restaurant owners can voice their opinion on the matter.
“While the discount may seem small from a county’s perspective, it makes a meaningful difference to small business owners like ours,” wrote Shelly Kokines, owner of Mythos Cafe, which operates at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. “Every dollar matters when operating on tight margins, especially as we continue to manage rising costs for food supplies, utilities, insurance, and labor.”
King George restaurants paid $1.9 million in meals tax in Fiscal Year 2025, County Administrator Matthew Smolnik said. Repealing the meals tax would add $75,000 to the county’s budget next fiscal year.
Some businesses save as little as 33 cents per month with the discount, while others save $900 on the high end, Commissioner of Revenue Regina Puckett said.
“I would not want to discourage the small business owners that pay in a timely manner in order to receive that small discount,” Puckett said.
Instead, Puckett proposed putting a cap, say $200, on the amount restaurants can save per month.
The owners of Roma Pizza and Taste of Himalaya spoke out against repealing the discount. Jeff Stonehill, who owns Machodoc Creek Marina & Cafe, said restaurant owners loosely formed an organization called the King George Restaurant Owners Association, in an attempt to address the issue as a group through petitions and letters.
But there was one business owner who said the rebate should be repealed.
Perry Bowen, who owns Creekside Farm Brewery, also noted that he has issues with the board raising the meals tax this fiscal year from 4% to 6%. But that’s a separate issue from the sellers’ discount.
“There shouldn’t be any credit for doing the right thing and taking somebody else’s money and giving it to the government,” Bowen said … “So, this thing needs to be repealed.”
Bowen suggested slightly lowering the meals tax rate to help small restaurant owners instead of the discount. Supervisor Ken Stroud, who represents the James Madison District, agreed with Bowen’s stance. Stroud also inquired about whether any other business receives similar deductions, but the discount is only related to the meals tax, said Board Chair David Sullins, who also noted that no other businesses experience the same tax increase as restaurants.
Bowen was alone in his opinion among the business owners who addressed the board.
Kokines said she’s appreciative of the county rewarding businesses who pay their taxes on time.
“Eliminating this benefit would have a greater impact on the small business than it may appear on paper,” she said. “For many of us, these savings are reinvested back into our business, employees, and the local economy.”
Puckett shared that some believe the county isn’t business-friendly, and repealing the discount would further cement that reputation in the community.
Dahlgren District Supervisor William Davis, who owns and operates a restaurant in the county, said that perhaps the county should look at providing a meals tax break for restaurant owners in their first three years of operation to allow them to get the business firmly established.
James Monroe District Supervisor Bryan Metts agreed with the concerns that business owners expressed, especially the 2% increase in the meals tax.
“All of us are starting to watch our pennies and where they’re being spent these days,” Metts said. “So, I am definitely concerned with the impact for our small businesses.”
Sullins reminded the community that the public hearing is strictly about the meals tax discount and not the tax itself. Sullins supports keeping the discount in place because it falls in line with the county’s stated goal of helping small businesses. He said the county spends money going after delinquent taxes, and repealing the discount would likely add to that burden.
“This is one real small impact,” Sullins said. “It’s a nice thing we can do for the small businesses in the county.”
