May 6, 2009 Two New City Council Members Are Elected and Sales Tax Increase Is Now Countywide

Morristown City Council will have two new faces and one familiar face.

Bob Garrett defeated former assistant City Administrator Jack Kennerly to take the vacant Ward 1 seat. Gene Brooks took the at-large seat, prevailing in a crowded field over former MUS head Bill Swann and incumbent councilman Rick Trent. Kay Senter retained her Ward 3 seat over challengers Charles Cook and Larry Lane.

As I predicted on Monday, the sales tax increase referendum passed yesterday. Only Hamblen County voters living outside the city limits could vote in this referendum.

Governments will not give up on getting more and more tax money as shown by the mutiple sales tax referenda held in Hamblen County in 15 months.

A single countywide sales tax increase referendum failed in February 2008.

After the countywide tax increase was rejected, the governments (Mayor Barile/city council and Mayor David Purkey/county commission) decided to go with a split-vote tactic, separating the failed countywide sales tax referendum into two separate referenda (inside the city and then outside the city) with two separate goals.

The city voters passed the sales tax increase inside the city limits in June 2008 after being offered a 15-cent property tax reduction in exchange for a YES vote on the sales tax. The city's pick your poison referendum was: Either pay the 40-cent tax property tax increase OR pay a 25-cent property tax increase and an increased sales tax!

Yesterday, the county voters passed the sales tax increase outside the city limits after being told that they had to pass the sales tax increase in order to get some of the tax dollars being collected by the city flowing to the county schools.

[NOTE: The city had previously used the "for the children" mantra in trying to get support for the first (countywide) sales tax referendum in February 2008. Click here to see Morristown Mayor Sami Barile's letter expressing concern for the children and education. When that referendum failed, the city held a city-only referendum which passed in June 2008.

After passage of the city-only referendum, the city's concern "for the children" evaporated. The City considered giving some of its "excess" sales tax money to Hamblen County Schools but decided not to. The city's concern for education boiled down to this message to the county and school system: "You'll have to pry that money from my cold, dead hands."]

With a referendum on a sales tax increase, the government never gives up. With Hamblen County's initial rejection of an increase, it then became a "divide and conquer" battle. Offer one group (city voters) one thing and then hold another referendum and offer another group (county voters) something else.

Just get those higher taxes passed! Anyway. Someway. Every which way.