Voters, who in 2012 overwhelmingly rejected a supplemental school tax for the county school system, once again snubbed their noses at the notion that merger and the significant tax increase it would bring is the right thing to do.

In our conversation with Commissioner Vernon Bryant early this morning, he told us he believes now is the time to begin studying the Evergreen Report, a $100,000 document that may hold the key to not only cost-saving measures within the county schools, but a way to improve education across the three systems in the county.

Newly elected Commissioner Patrick Qualls explained to us that now is the time to focus on bringing new jobs to the county, not raising taxes to a point that new business and industry would shy away from locating here.

While we realize the three people elected in the primary still have another fight on their hands in the November general election, we believe Tuesday night's unofficial results are a strong measure of the pulse of Halifax County — that merger, at least right now, is not the answer and that possibly it will never be the answer.

The primary elections results need to be the starting point for frank discussions on issues related to all schools. They also need to be the starting point for discussions on how the county gets its fund balance back to acceptable levels.

Judging from Monday's board meeting, the county has at least found a way to stave off a tax increase for the upcoming fiscal year, but living on a shoestring budget from year to year makes no sense in our personal lives and hardly makes sense for a county government charged with providing services to the people who pay their salaries.

We truly believe that now is the time to put the merger issue to rest and for the commissioners to be creative and critical thinkers who can come up with solutions on a myriad of issues, most importantly creating jobs and creating better schools where our students receive the best educations possible — Editor