“I said during the first part when we started discussing that a quarter cent in my opinion would be plenty to do what they need to do and I still stand to that,” Eddie Simpson, councilman, said. “They’re scared that Loudon County will pass the same tax and if they do then it cuts it in half, which makes them only get a quarter cent. I think safety is the most important thing we can possibly do in our school system. We never know when something’s going to come up and I think this half cent, quarter cent if the county passes theirs, is needed, I really do.
 

“... I’ve said all along council had nothing to do with asking for the tax, it’s strictly the school that’s asked for help and that was the only fair way city council had of making sure that they got their needs and let the people vote on it,” he added.
 

If passed in November, the city’s local sales tax rate will be 2.5 percent.
 

An increase would generate $1.89 million. The decision comes months after a school safety task force formed and helped brainstorm ways to improve school safety. Officials initially considered a three-fourths of a percent increase, which would have brought in $2.9 million.
 

“Of course nobody wants a tax raise, but seeing that we’re talking about safety of our children and, of course, we are going to let the citizens vote on it on the ballot,” Wampler said. “I feel like that’s the best way to do it. I don’t have children at the high school or middle school anymore, but I just know there’s not one out there that would be worth risking. You always think, ‘It won’t happen in Lenoir City.’ Well, every school it’s ever happened at that’s exactly what they’ve said. I don’t know if we have a choice as a concerned parent, mother of children, I think it has to pass.”
 

Lenoir City Administrator Amber Scott in a previous interview said funds from the increase would only be for school safety and would not end.
 

Items under consideration for the added funds include four school resource officers, three social workers, fencing around Lenoir City High School and classroom video and panic call technology. The school system currently employs two school resource officers.
 

Alternate ways to fund improvements will have to be considered if voters decline the increase, Shields said.
 

“We’ll just have to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do,” Simpson said. “Again, I feel like safety is the main thing and it may be that we may have to do something and just hire the SRO officers and take it one step at a time. I think in reality that’s what will have to be done if it doesn’t pass.”
 

A public hearing was held 30 minutes prior to the meeting, which included one dissenting voice from resident Todd Kennedy.
 

“While I am in favor of increased school security, I’m not in favor of an ongoing open checkbook for the school board for this particular cause,” Kennedy said. “Increasing sales taxes not only affect the one in four families in our city that live in poverty, it also affects businesses. Businesses are faced with a decision to decrease profit margins or pass the tax onto the consumers. Not every business has the luxury of simply raising prices.”