Shenandoah County’s new 6% meals tax cleared its final hurdle Tuesday, as supervisors rejected a last-minute attempt to cut the rate in half and voted 4–2 to approve the ordinance.

The tax, which applies to all prepared food and beverages sold in unincorporated Shenandoah County, will take effect Feb. 1, 2026. Five of the county’s six towns already levy a 6% meals tax and Toms Brook levies 3%, so the new county tax will only affect businesses outside town limits.

County voters rejected a countywide meals tax in a 2019 referendum, after which state law required a six-year waiting period before supervisors could act on their own.

Supervisors have said they intend to dedicate the new revenue, projected at a minimum of $600,000 a year, to public-safety capital needs, such as fire engines, a

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