Fore Note: As the new year begins, the News Herald did interviews with three local mayors, Loudon mayor Jeff Harris, county mayor, Buddy Bradshaw and best of all, Lenoir City mayor Tony Aikens. By far, the Aikens interview was the best or worst, depending on how you look at it. Right out of the gate, Aikens made the false claim that he and the council hadn't raised taxes in 8 years. That's just a bold faced lie and he knows it. He and the council raised the city property taxes 17% or 14 cents in 2021. Over Aikens tenure in office, the city has raised property taxes several times, not to mention the Aikens Rain Tax. I guess Aikens thinks if he tells the same lie often enough, that'll make it true. It doesn't. 

Lenoir City Mayor discusses upcoming projects, achievements of tenureship

Alyssa B. Martin news-herald.net

Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens reflected with The News-Herald on the previous year and looked forward to the year ahead.

Aikens was elected as Lenoir City’s mayor in 2010 and has won each election since, including the 2024 election. After he won the last election, he announced that his current term will be his final term.

When asked what one of his proudest achievements has been through his time with the city, his answer is consistently the same — not raising the city’s property taxes.

In fact, during his time in office, Aikens and his Council have managed to cut property taxes twice.

Lenoir City cut property taxes by 5% last year, which was the first time in eight years that the rate had changed. Previously the city cut the rate in 2016.

Despite having a successfully consistent property tax rate, Aikens and City Council have attempted to raise the sales tax a few times in the last few years. However, rather than raising the tax with the Council’s vote, they have taken the decision to the citizens of Lenoir City to decide.

As it stands, Lenoir City has one of the lower sales tax rates in the area. Just last year, the mayor and City Council partnered with Lenoir City Schools to attempt to put in place a sales tax increase of 0.75%, or $0.75 per $1 spent in the city.

The money would be split between the city and the school. City Council passed a referendum for a special election, and in April of last year, the Lenoir City citizens voted against the increase 496-236.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025

When Aikens spoke with The News-Herald on Wednesday, Jan. 8, he talked about multiple projects happening in the city this year that he’s looking forward to — improvements to Old Highway 95, Parks and Rec expansion, continuing the Traffic Signalization Project, cost of living adjustments, and moving forward with the Downtown Brewery Development.

Aikens said that to do the majority of desired improvements to Old Highway 95, the preliminary amount is around $8 million. This would include lighting, sidewalks, walking trail connection and putting in turn lanes at Donna’s Diner out to the high school.

“Keep in mind that’s only preliminary,” Aikens said. “Obviously that could be scaled back somewhat. (It) depends on how much TPO money we can get, if any. And we won’t know the answers to that, but I would like to see 95 improvement start (this year).”

Aikens is also planning for an additional park in Lenoir City, and he plans to appoint a Parks and Recreation Committee in the coming weeks to guide the process and department going forward. The committee will be made up of some existing city personnel and the general public, according to Aikens.

Phase II of the Traffic Signalization Project is also underway and bids are going out soon for the projects.

“We realize that traffic is an issue on 321 and Broadway, and we’re doing something about it,” Aikens said. “I get asked about it very often, and I tell people (that) you’ve got to be patient. When you’re dealing with state and federal dollars, it takes time … but we are working on it, and it is going to happen.”

As of Jan. 8, Aikens heard from the team working on the Downtown Brewery Development — Tennessee Brew Works — that they hope to break ground in the next few months.

With inflation and the cost of living increasing each year, Aikens said he would like to implement a cost of living adjustment into this year’s budget for all employees — especially those nearing retirement.

“We did not include a cost of living adjustment each year,” he said. “I’m into my last term and before I leave office, I would like to see the city implement a cost of living increase automatically for the city employees.”