Let the People Decide: Wheel Tax Increase for New Vocational School Heads to Nov. 2024 Ballot
By Misty Green
Macon County Commissioners voted this past Monday night, May 20th to allow Macon County Attorney Guy Holliman to draft a resolution to place the question of adding a $38 wheel tax increase, in order to fund the construction of a new vocational school on the November election ballot, letting the taxpayers also decide the fate of TCAT (Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology) continuing to educate Macon County students through the vocational school program.
Another issue that will be sensitive to the wallets of taxpayers’ was also on the discussion table of the budget committee, wherein talks push for a 14-cent increase in the property tax, mainly for salary increases (7.5-cent increase for the sheriff’s department and corrections personnel) that the commission approved September 2023 after the budget was set. The talks of increasing taxes do not end there, as an additional 3 cents were discussed to also be added to the property tax each year for the next two years according to District 1 Commissioner Phillip Snow, who is one member of seven who serve on the budget committee.
The cost to build the vocational school began at an estimated cost of $18 million, yet one year later, the current figures are closer to $20 million, which will require an increased wheel tax revenue of $38. Macon County’s motor vehicle privilege tax currently sits at $65, yet if the motion to increase the wheel tax an additional $38 is voted in by the people, then Macon County’s wheel tax will top Lake County, which has the highest in the state of Tennessee at $100.
Most believe that the motion to increase will be voted down, yet the consequence will follow as TCAT has given warning that they will be pulling out in two years, due to the Red Boiling Springs Vocational facility not being ADA (American Disability Act) compliant and has become unmanageable after approximately 50 years of use.
“Vocational Schools have been given a bad reputation over the years,” Director of Macon County Schools Shawn Carter said during the meeting, realizing some students attend vocational school to simply get away from the normal school campus and grab an easy ‘A’, “But that is just not the case anymore… TCAT runs a very tight shift,” Macon County Director of Schools Shawn Carter stated, “And through the opportunity of vocational education this year alone, provided by TCAT’s dual enrollment program, eight Macon County students obtained their CNA license before even graduating high school, and not having a vocational school program would displace 100 students per semester and that is a step back.”
In other business
Commissioners approved the following: TRANE Energy Savings Program; Putnam County Juvenile Detention Center contract.
Macon County Mayor Steve Jones told the governing body that the new health department was in the design stage and expected it to be anywhere from six months to a year before bidding out to be constructed. Mayor Jones also said that 595 tags were sold than last year.
Reminders: The next Committee of the Whole Meeting will be on Monday, June 3, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. in the City of Lafayette Meeting Room. Budget Committee Meetings are scheduled for the following dates: June 3, 10, 17, and 24th at 5 p.m. at the City of Lafayette Meeting Room. County Government Offices will be closed on Memorial Day, May 27, 2024.
