As previously reported, the long awaited Loudon County School building plan was passed last Monday. To fund the program, commissioners voted for a 25 cent property tax increase. Any tax increase is never popular, no one likes to pay higher taxes of any kind. Unfortunately, sometimes it's unavoidable.

The vote was close with six commissioners voting yes and four voting no for the building plan/tax increase. Commissioners Chase Randolph, Bill Geams, Bill Satterfield,  Gary Whitfield, Joe Morrison and myself, voted for the building plan/tax increase. Commissioners William Jenkins, Rosemary Quillien, Henry Cullen and Adam Waller voted no.

Not a single one of the commissioners, including myself, wanted to vote for the tax hike. Not one commissioner wanted to add any additional tax burden to any tax payer. County commissioners have the terrible responsibility of balancing the welfare of the citizens with providing county services including education.

Personally, I have never voted for any tax increase in 18 years in office, nor have any of the other commissioners voted for any tax increases since being in office. That's why there hasn't been any property tax increases since 2011. In fact, the property tax was reduced in 2014. Selfishly, I don't want to pay higher taxes and I'm sure none of the rest of the commissioners wanted to either. Each commissioner voted the way they felt right. Certainly, the easiest thing to do would be to vote no. But contrary to the popular belief, of the loyal opposition, everyone in Loudon County does not oppose the tax increase for the school building plan. Many support it and wanted it done. As you can see, commissioners are in an awful spot. Some want it, some don't. There would be some upset no matter how the vote went. Both the yes voters and the no voters have received support and criticism for their vote. You might say, we're in a no win situation. So we all did what we thought best.  

The Loudon County School Board spent a couple years putting together their proposal, to not only meet their immediate needs, but the needs of the county school system, on the north end of the county, for many, many years.

Of course, the most controversial part of the building proposal is the new middle/high school on the north end of the county. The idea of a north end high school has been discussed for many years. The county school system has always been dependent on the Lenoir City school system to educate high school age county kids. Now with all the uncontrolled residential growth in the Lenoir City and the Lenoir City high school filling up, county officials decided now was the time to take the historic step to provide high school education for county students. No more kicking the can down the road, no more band aids.

At the very best, the earliest the new school could open would be August 2027, more likely, 2028. If the residential growth continues as it has, the county and city middle and elementary schools will be way beyond capacity by then. 

Hopefully, as time passes, most will realize the significance of the June 24, 2024 decision to secure the county school system's ability to provide education for many years to come.