The Rain Tax, passed by the Lenoir City mayor/council back in 2017 is still the biggest scam ever perpetrated on a group of people in the city's history. City officials like to call it a storm water fee. Two of the three councilmen who are running for re-election voted for the Rain tax hoax. Both incumbent councilmen, Buddy Hines and Jim Shields, who are running for re-election, voted for it. The third incumbent running for re-election, James Brandon, wasn't in office when it was passed but we'll discuss that in a minute.
The Rain Tax, which is not mandated by the federal or state government, but is a local option tax, is levied on every residence, business, church school and nonprofit in the city, this is why the mayor council opted to pass the rain tax. Unlike a property tax that exempts church's, nonprofits and schools, the Rain Tax gets everybody. A quote in the news Herald by Lenoir City manager, Amber Scott Kelso, said it better than I could.
“If you look at the comparison between the tax increase and the fee, a fee is a more equitable way of doing things,” she said. “If it’s a tax you’re really only getting your business owners and your residents. You can’t get your schools and you can’t get your churches because they’re exempt from property taxes. So even though they’re putting into the system, they’re not having to contribute anything toward it.
Amber Scott Kelso News Herald June 2017
Obviously, the mayor/council's intent was to make sure they taxed everyone. Another excuse given for passing the Rain tax was to avoid a property tax increase. How'd that work out? Just last year, the mayor/council voted for one of the largest property tax increases in the city's history. We'll discuss this later. With mayor Tony Aikens and his never say NO council, there seems to be no limit of how high or how many taxes they are willing to pass on the citizens of the city.
Now for the third incumbent running for re-election, James Brandon. Brandon ran for a council seat in 2018, a year after the Rain Tax was passed. His 2018 campaign platform was almost exclusively, repeal the rain Tax. Brandon told everyone he politicked to that if elected, he was going to do all he could to repeal the Rain Tax. Ultimately, Brandon narrowly won a seat on the council, by only 11 votes. So did he go to work trying to repeal the rain Tax? Not even a little bit.
Within five months of being elected, Mr. Brandon had a 180 change of heart. Apparently, mayor Aikens helped him get his "mind right" and I understand he also had a close relative go to work for LCUB just after he got elected. Below is a Facebook post from Brandon in March of 2018. Clearly Mr. Brandon drank the kool-aid. He adopted many of the false talking points that other council members and the mayor tried to pass off. Except for giving his name, not hardly a word of truth is in his statement. Unlike the other councilmen running for re-election who voted for the Rain tax without apology, councilman Brandon promised the voters one thing then did just the opposite.
Here's a little Rain Tax history. Passed July of 2017, the hoax tax has generated more than 2.5 million dollars for the city coffers. The current Rain Tax department has more than a half million dollar fund balance.
Combined, the 21 churches in the city pay more than $28,000.00 in Rain Tax each year. My home church, First Baptist Church, pays the highest monthly fee of all the churches at $500.00 per month. This is also the home church of councilwoman Jennifer Wampler and councilman Mike Henline. Both voted for the Rain Tax.
The Lenoir City school system pays $14,400.00 per year for the Rain Tax. Both a minister from FBC and other churches and the LC director of schools, Jennie Barker, pled with the mayor/council not to pass the tax on schools and churches, but to no avail.
The single highest payer in Rain Tax is Adesa Auto Auction who has to cough up $2,000.00 per month.
There are nearly 4,200 residential Rain Tax payers and over 700 non residential payers. Last year the Rain tax generated over $576,000.00, nearly $151,000.00 from residential and over $425,000.00 from non residential.
We know the three incumbent council candidates support the Rain Tax, but I have no idea how the three challengers feel about it, but this might be a good time to find out.