Lenoir City sales tax vote fails

In a separate but overlapping issue, there’s been heated discussion about whether a new county high school is a good use of funds

Becca J.G. Godwin news-herald.net

For the second time in six years, Lenoir City voters have rejected a local sales tax increase.

The proposed increase, which was earmarked for Lenoir City Schools’ expansions and a community and senior citizens center for the city, failed 496 to 236 on Saturday.

If a majority of the ballots cast by the city’s 6,010 registered voters had approved the referendum, the local sales tax rate would’ve risen from 2 percent to 2.75 percent.

Revenue from the increase would have been split evenly between the city and the city school system. On Monday, Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens and Jeanne Barker, director of Lenoir City Schools, said they were both disappointed by the outcome.

Aikens said he, the school board and city council will obviously respect the voters’ decision.

“It would have brought in a significant amount of dollars to the city for the purpose of building the senior citizen center and the renovations of the schools and additions, but they chose not to do that,” Aikens said. “The majority did. Majority rules, and we’ll abide by that.”

Barker said she gets that no one wants to pay additional taxes — herself included.

“So, I can understand. But we do have need,” she said. “And we’ll keep working to solve that issue.”

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

The outcome means the senior citizens center is off the table, and the school board will have some “tough decisions to make” regarding whether or not they want portable classrooms, Aikens said.

“(Portable classrooms) would be my last … and I think the board too … the last thing they would want to do,” said Barker, who hadn’t yet met with the school board since the results. “So we will look through every other option first.”

“We will go back to the drawing board and we’ll see what can we do, and how much can we do. So we’ll be working through that process to see what our next steps are,” she said.

City governments are very limited on how they can raise money, Aikens said, and the city council isn’t prepared to raise property taxes to pay for renovations or additions of the school system.

“We will not be raising property taxes for either project. I do not anticipate a property tax increase for the year 2024-25,” Aikens stressed.

The mayor believes the referendum failed due to a combination of things, including “some untruths out there on social media about it” and the fact that “a lot of people just didn’t like a tax … period.”

Receiving this result from voters is not an altogether new experience for Aikens nor Barker. When Lenoir City officials proposed a half cent increase to the sales tax to go toward school safety improvements in November 2018, the vote failed 1,372 to 964.

“I know we’re all disappointed, but we’ve been disappointed before,” Barker said. “And we will get together and we’ll make a good plan and we’ll keep doing great things for kids.”

A local sales tax hike being on the ballot again in the future isn’t something Aikens currently sees as being an option, but that determination is ultimately up to city council. At any rate, he isn’t taking the rejection personally.

“It wasn’t Tony Aikens and it wasn’t city council. It wasn’t the school board. It was … the voters decided,” Aikens said. “That’s what the law says: the voters have to decide. The voters made that decision. We’ll live by that decision.”

TENSION OVER POSSIBLE NEW HIGH SCHOOL

In a separate issue but one with some overlap, Barker addressed the Loudon County Commission during the public comment period of its workshop on Monday to make the case that a new county high school wouldn’t be a good use of funds.

“I am here to show you numbers supporting the fact that we have enough space and capacity and opportunity with outstanding academic programming to continue to serve the high school students in the city and the county’s north end,” Barker said.

“Let me be honest. l don’t want a new high school because it is not needed. We have no problem serving the students in grades nine through 12, and Loudon County taxpayers do not need another $100 million school to serve the students we are currently serving in grades nine through 12,” she said. “We are not against … building something in Lenoir City to address school growth, but a high school is unnecessary.”

Barker then provided information about current enrollment numbers, and said Lenoir City High School can support 200 to 250 new students. It is made up of 52 percent city residents and 48 percent county residents.

Responding to a question from Commissioner Adam Waller, Barker said there is “a small amount to grow more at the middle school, but the elementary school is very full.”

Commissioner Van Shaver took issue with Barker’s stance.

“I don’t have any questions. I want to tell you I find this highly offensive,” he said. “We have our school board director back here, half his school board, his number two, they have come and said what they feel the county needs. I don’t know why you think you know better what the county needs than the county knows what they need.”

Barker reiterated that she’s totally against a new high school, based on the data. Shaver brought up the special election that was held two days prior.

“You just mentioned that you were concerned about the taxes. You just came off of a sales tax increase push with everything you had, yet you’re concerned about raising taxes,” he said.

Shaver asked for a “slight indulgence” in giving Michael Garren, director of Loudon County Schools, a chance to respond to what he’d heard. Garren said he was attending as a participant and wasn’t there to debate.

“But I will be sharing with the county commission our needs. I represent ten elected members of our school board that represent the community that elected them. I would not publicly say what my feelings are for Lenoir City’s plans or their needs. I can only speak to mine,” Garren said. “And both my current board and my previous board have unanimously voted that this is the direction we need to go considering the data that we have on that end of the county, as far as the county as a whole too.”

Lenoir City resident Wayne Collins, who was the last to speak during the public comment, had more to say about the sales tax vote. Collins found it embarrassing that the city council wanted to tax people who are living paycheck to paycheck for something that “was not a necessity for the city.”

“The problem we have in Lenoir City is not revenue, it’s those that are spending the revenue,” Collins said.

“They’re throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. And Lenoir City showed that they’re tired of it. We’re wanting new representation and hopefully come November we’ll get it.”