Missing from the meeting was any specifics, details or timelines for any of the proposed improvements for the school's plans, just pictures on paper. There was very little, almost no discussion about the Senior Citizens/Community Center.

There was maybe a half dozen, non affiliated residents in attendance. There were maybe a couple dozen school employees there. Only 3 residents asked questions of the council. The only one who really spoke up was, Dan Bell, owner of the Daily Edition. He had a lot of good questions that went mostly unanswered. When he tried to ask a follow up question, Aikens told him, "you've had your time, take your seat". Bell did get Aikens to finally explain why he wanted a special election at the cost of $20,000.00. According to Aikens, regular elections are just too confusing and he was afraid city voters couldn't figure out how to vote. I kid you not, that's what he said. I never realized Lenoir City voters had so much trouble voting.

Aikens wanted the special election, no matter the cost, hoping that a low turnout might help get it passed. Election day is even on a Saturday.

One theme that kept being repeated was, it's less than a penny. I guess if Aikens thinks city voters are too dumb to figure out how to vote, he figures they couldn't understand how sales tax works either.

Director Barker stated that the three quarter cent increase would generate about four million dollars per year in new taxes for the city and school board, each to get half of that money. That estimate could be way low. But back in 2018, the last time the mayor tried to pass a half cent sales tax increase, it was estimated that half cent would generate three million dollars per year. In the past six years, since the last sales tax hike attempt, sales tax collections have soared with the state's implementation of the online sales tax. Director Barker did have one point, she said, we could determine how much sales tax we pay by buying less. Not sure if she meant food or clothes or what we should buy less of.

Why the sales tax hike vote is only for city residents, county residents don't need to sit this one out. Aikens loves to say, city residents pay county taxes too. The same can be said in reverse, county residents pay city taxes too. If the sales tax hike were to pass, everybody has to pay that increase on everything you buy inside the city. While county residents can't vote in the election, we can sure ask our city resident friends to vote against Aikens sales tax hike.

Below is a link to the video of the meeting. It's less than 30 minutes long. Every city voter needs to watch the meeting to see if they feel confidence in the mayor and his leadership on the sales tax hike. After all, he said back in 2018, after the defeat of his last sales tax hike attempt, "obviously, the voters rejected it and we're going to abide by the voters decision". Guess that just meant for 6 years. 

Click Here For Video Of Meeting