Below is a perfect example of what I was talking about. The letter is from POA board member, Pat White to property owners in the village. Mr. White is currently a POA board member running for reelection.

Personal Communication from Pat White

POA Board Candidate

I am sure that we have all had quite enough ‘politics’ this year but as Tellico Village Property Owners, we have one more campaign to suffer through and one more vote to cast.  Please take a deep breath and cast your vote for the two candidates who will arguably most affect your daily lives.

Property owners pay approximately the same yearly assessment fees as pay property taxes.  I fully understand that Villagers use county roads, judicial system, county administrative services, schools, etc.  And I realize that Loudon County helps support the Tellico Village Library (a County Library, not POA) and the Tellico Village Fire Department (again, not POA owned).  But that is all.

Tellico Village Property Owners pay over 8.5 million dollars in property taxes yearly.  Tellico Village Property Owners donate over 2 million dollars in time and resources to local organizations.

The reality.  County governments go to extraordinary lengths to attract and keep business and industries that generate tax dollars, jobs, wages.  Why not Tellico Village?

Loudon and Monroe counties have the best of all conditions in Tellico Village.  A positively ‘green’ industry that generates huge tax dollars, spends wages locally, has a population that does not put a burden on infrastructure (roads, sewer, water are self-supporting) or administration (schools, judicial, police are seldom used), hires and contracts with local service providers and openly and freely contribute time and resources to the betterment of the local countywide community and continues to attract and grow.

This relationship has been maintained for decades with little to no change.  This is not acceptable.  Tellico Village maintains its infrastructure at its own expense.  No tax dollars are allocated to our support while the county areas outside Tellico Village are supported by county tax dollars (including ours).

Understand this statement.  Tellico Village is not in financial difficulties.    But we must demand our share of property tax dollars be allocated to Tellico Village tax payers.  ZERO is not acceptable.

Through working with our county and state governments I commit to continuing this effort.  Our assessment fees can be offset by our receiving our fair share of county tax revenues without the added expense brought on by Incorporation and duplication of services.

I appreciate your vote.  Please forward this email to your email groups.  An endorsement is greatly appreciated.

And finally, I apologize for continuing the campaigning of which we have all grown weary.  There will be more platform issues in the coming days.  I appreciate you passing them on to your Tellico Village friends and neighbors.

Pat White

Mr. White puts great stock in the fact that Tellico Village property owners pay property tax in Loudon County. News flash for Mr. White, so does every other property owner in the county. White also claims that villagers don't use county services, wrong again. Tellico Village residents have the same access to every county service as ever other citizen in the county, including the school system. Where he is correct, the county does not maintain the streets within the village. This is because when, Cooper Communities came to Loudon County to developed the village, they had two options, build their streets to county standards and the streets would be accepted and maintained by the county, or, they could build their streets substandard and the streets would never become the county's responsibility. They chose poorly. That's why the streets are so narrow and impassable at many points.

As to using the county school system, there are approximately 4,800 students in the system. Loudon County's population is about 54,000. Clearly, the vast majority of Loudon Countians do not have children in the school system, same as Tellico Village.

White also seems to forget, the village has an elected representative on the county commission. Henry Cullen is the current commissioner representing most of Tellico Village. In fact, he is the commission chairman. Mr. Cullen does a great job representing his constituents on county commission.

If Mr. White really wants to have an impact on local elections, he might start by voting in county primary elections. He's only voted in one county in two county primary's since he registered to vote in 2012   

The vast majority of villagers are great folks and are truly an asset to Loudon County. Then there's those of the mindset like Mr. White who believes that someone else should be paying the bills.

I say again, it's long past time for the village to incorporate.