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By Joel Washburn
washburn@mckenziebanner.com |
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Carroll County Commissioners will address a
resolution Monday calling for a January 27 referendum
on a proposed $10 hike in the annual wheel tax fee on
motor vehicles. Commissioners had voted in the
September and October meetings to hike the tax,
however, a petition containing 1,045 registered
voters' names, requesting the right to vote on the
tax, was submitted to the Carroll County Election
Commission. The petition now requires the commission
to place the wheel tax issue on the ballot.
If approved, the wheel tax will increase to a total of
$30 and the total cost of licensing a passenger
vehicle at $54, including the $24 state fee. The
estimated $240,000 generated by the $10 wheel tax hike
would go for bridge construction and rural road
maintenance, said county Mayor Kenny McBride.
If approved by referendum, the additional tax will
commence March 1, 2005.
Prior to a successful petition campaign to let the
voters decide the fate of the wheel tax, commissioners
had scheduled the increase to take effect January 1,
2005. With the uncertainty of passage of the wheel
tax, the Highway Committee voted to lay off 30 of the
39 employees on the road repair and maintenance crews
for the month of January.
The Highway Committee also voted to recommend an 11
percent increase in property tax should the wheel tax
hike fail. Committee members voting for the resolution
to possibly hike property taxes 12 cents were Virgil
Coleman, Harold Baker, Wayne Kirk, Johnny Blount,
Gaylon Sydnor, and Virgil Coleman. Ben Surber voted
no.
Members of the Tennessee Tax Revolt, a non-profit
organization based in Middle Tennessee, helped
organize the petition drive. The group provided
downloadable petitions on the Internet and established
roadside tables to encourage the signing of the
petition. Group representative, Ben Cunningham, also
placed ads in this newspaper encouraging persons to
sign the petitions.
As for Tax Revolt Tennessee getting involved in local
politics, McBride previously said, "If they want to
get involved in county government, they need to help
pay the costs." He said he would like to see the group
start by paying the $15,000 cost of holding a special
referendum in the county.
"We have three major sources of funding," said
McBride.
Those are property tax, wheel tax, and sales tax. The
local option sales tax is already at its maximum level
of 2.75 percent following a referendum by the people.
The cost of a wheel tax would be paid by a majority of
the people in the county, whereas a property tax hike
will be paid by approximately 40 percent of the
population, said McBride. The current tax rate is
$1.06 per $100 assessed value.
"I cannot, in good conscious, support a property tax
hike," said McBride. "That will be left to the County
Commission."
The $1.09 tax rate is set until July 2005 when a new
fiscal year begins. However, the county is projecting
a deficit budget for fiscal year 2004-2005 after the
unusually high number of homicides and associated
costly autopsies, and the higher fuel cost to operate
the sheriff's and highway departments and school
buses. McBride said the county's finances are
"healthy" at this time, but a few big costly items
could change the financial situation.
One example he cited was the cost of a bridge in Road
Commissioner Scotty Bailey's district. The original
cost was estimated at $234,000. The current cost
estimate is $635,000. The county's share of the
project escalated $80,000, said McBride. Another
bridge over the Big Sandy on Westport Road is
estimated to cost a total of $1,060,000, with a local
cost of $212,000. McBride indicated the replacement
costs for that bridge could also escalate.
In 1992, the county commission approved a $20 wheel
tax, which was defeated by the people in a referendum.
Commissioners countered that defeat with a 32-cent
property tax hike. Property taxes have not been
increased since 1992, however, the local option sales
tax was hiked during former County Executive Billy
Murphy's administration.
