A town hall meeting on the meals tax referendum held Tuesday night in Mathews was attended by only about a dozen residents.

The purpose of the meeting was to inform county residents about the need for the proposed tax, which will be voted on during Tuesday’s election.

Mathews County Administrator Mindy Moran presented a slide show to help residents understand the issues involved. She said that 75 percent of the county’s $16.9 million budget—$12.8 million—is funded locally, and that 87 percent of that funding comes from real estate taxes.

The next highest source of revenue for the county, she said, is the personal property tax, which funds just under 10 percent of the county’s budget. If the meals tax were adopted, she said, it would be the third highest local source of revenue for the county, based on staff’s lowest projections.

Most of the county’s expenditures are mandatory, said Moran, including over $6 million for the school system, alo...