If you could just sit on the outside and watch, local tax discussions would be entertaining.
But when higher tax payments constantly hit you in the pocketbook, it's no longer amusing.
The spectre of much higher taxes for Hamblen Countians is just a few months away. East and West High need repairs and new construction.
How to pay for that work raises questions about the county's total debt and debt repayment schedule.
Can the county pay for the proposed school construction without raising taxes? Hasn't the debt from the last major school construction program (1998) been paid down some?
Well, let's start with a few basics.
How much does the county owe?
About $40 million. (And that figure does not include the hospital debt that the county is responsible for if M-H Hospital is at some point not able to make its debt payments).
What was the $40 million spent on?
Most of the $40 million was spent on two new middle schools and renovations to about 14 other schools in the 1998 school building program. Some of the debt was for other county projects like the courthouse addition and jail annex, etc.
Haven't we paid off at least some of this debt by now?
Well, the answer would be yes IF the county had been paying principal and interest on this debt for the past 8 years (like most people do with a car loan or mortgage).
But the county didn't pay principal and interest on this debt over the past 8 years.
Instead, the county made interest-only payments. The County Mayor, Trustee, and Commissioners that were serving in 1998 set up this "interest-only" payment plan.
So it's 2006, and the county taxpayers still owe that same $40 million.
Now there is a request for more borrowing---- $20 million (+ or -) for school construction and who knows what else.
And if you live in the City of Morristown, you've got all that county debt coupled with your existing city debt and a bajillion-dollar city sewer construction bill that just keeps climbing.
And if a new 200 to 500-inmate jail is tossed in there, just hold on to your hats and your pocketbook.
When former Commissioner Dennis Alvis took office in 2002, he said: "We've been robbing Peter to pay Paul and now Peter has left town." I'm not sure that Commissioner Alvis was aware of how true those words were.
You always hear that everything is "for the children." That seems to be especially true with the county debt.
I thought you were supposed to try and leave your children something--and debt is not that something!
I guess I didn't get the "borrow, spend it, and pass the debt on" memo.
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