Mayor Aikens and Attorney Harrison are not only governmentally associated, but have had at least one business transaction together.

Back in 2018, Mayor Aikens acquired a residential parcel of property at 1015 East First Ave. I say acquired because, according to the deed, Akins received the property by Quitclaim Deed. Shortly there after he had the property rezoned from residential to commercial.

June of 2020, Aikens Quitclaimed the same property to Lenoir City attorney Gregory Harrison. The property was remodeled to become the new Priority Ambulance Service headquarters.

On October 1, 2020, Gregory Harrison "Quitclaimed" the same property to Belle Investments of Blount County. This is the same Belle Investment that's doing the big 400 plus unit development on Hwy. 321 that got the big tax breaks.  

According to the state, "quitclaim deeds are most often used to transfer property between family members, as gifts, placing personal property into a business entity (and vice versa) or in other special or unique circumstances."

One must sign an affidavit that they received no money for the property and the property had no value. "The oath must reflect the actual consideration given for that conveyance. Consideration reflects anything of pecuniary value and need not be money, but its value must be able to be expressed in monetary terms."

Quitclaim deeds also allow the buyer to avoid paying the county and state transfer or recordation tax on the sale. Recordation tax is based on the greater of the consideration paid for the transfer of the property or the fair market value of the property. Realty transfer tax is $0.37 per $100 of purchase price for the realty transfer.

Deeds being sent for recordation in Tennessee must contain an oath regarding the amount of the Transfer Tax due based on the Transfer Tax Formula.  TCA 67-4-409(a)(6)(A).  Affidavits of value are usually placed below the signature blocks of the deed and state: “I hereby swear that the actual consideration of value, whichever is greater, for this transfer is $_______.”  

Misrepresentation of value is considered perjury.

According to the oath below, signed by Greg Harrison, the consideration or value of the property was $0.00 even though the county appraisal is $135,900.00.

I want to be clear, I'm not suggesting Harrison has committed perjury as the state describes it, but he swears and affirms that the he took no money for the property and the property has no value. He also avoided paying the county and state taxes on the transfer.

Mr. Harrison is a practicing attorney. He is also the Lenoir City government attorney and he wants to be the city judge? Yet it appears he has no problem hedging the edges. Maybe that's why Aikens is so fond of him.