Mayor Ron Littlefield reiterated today that the sales tax agreement between the city and county will likely run out and said not to expect any kind of a fast deal.
“Don’t expect it to be something worked out quickly, and probably not quietly,” Littlefield said.
The mayor addressed the Southeast Tennessee Political Action Committee today about the sales tax agreement. Many in attendance were from non-profit organizations who worry their funding could be decreased because the city might take over the funding.
The sales tax agreement is set to expire on May 23 and about $10.5 million in sales tax revenue would come to city coffers and out of the county’s budget.
Much of that sales tax money has been spent for the past 45 years on funding non-profit agencies.
For complete details, read tomorrow’s Times Free Press.
Cliff has worked for the Times Free Press for five years and covers Chattanooga city government. He previously covered Rhea County, as well as transportation and growth and development in Southeast Tennessee. A native of Maryville, Tenn., Cliff graduated in 2003 from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis on journalism. Before coming to Chattanooga, he was a crime reporter with Hernando Today, a supplement of The Tampa (Fla.) ...
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Mayor Ron Littlefield said today he would rather the sales tax agreement between the city and county run out.
It won't be done quickly or quietly because the mayor has more tantrums to throw.
So slowly that hundreds of city/county employees lose their jobs? If that is the case, the city's mayor has very little respect for his voting constituency, most of whom are highly educated property owning people that value a positive community. Not the kind of work force you would want to lose nor empower to vote against you.
Here is another point I just want to keep spreading...
Obviously the city is going to generate more sales tax, that is where the taxable industry resides. How many tourist come to Chattanooga and stay in a hotel up in Soddy Daisy? How many folks out in the middle valley area go to the non-city shopping malls? Utterly ridiculous logic, or the lack there of, by the city's mayor to suggest that the city has no obligation to the very people that spend their money and earn their paycheck within the city limits. Speaking as a person who knows many fine employees in the health department, I can assure you that the city's citizens take full advantage of the services provided to them. It would be interesting to know just what the numbers are of city based citizens using the services versus the county. My guess is the city is the biggest resource user based simple on the fact that there is a larger population within the city than the unincorporated areas, and that the majority of the resource centers — like the health department and Erlanger — reside within the city’s liimits. Just those two ideas would seem to support the idea that the city has an obligation to pay its fair share. What happens when the services go away, does the city then just ignore the needs of the people, do they implement their own service? When the burden of cost gets to high does the city just annex another part of the county’s affluent areas and unincorporated the poverty areas? Does the mayor truly believe that District 7, 8, and 9 are not using the Health Department’s resources? Or somehow that it is a proportional use to some area out in the sticks? How much sales tax is generated in those areas versus that contributed by people shopping and eating in the tourist area? How much revenue in sales tax is brought in when folks like me who live 100 yards from the city limits goes downtown to an event or just down the street and spend 300 bucks a weekend at Lowes? Your city uses the system, so support it.
This is clearly a "shell game" being performed by Mayor Littlefield and his "rubberstamp city council". What do you do when screw up city so bad that you cannot balance the books, screw the county over by taking revenue away from them, annex surrounding areas against their will and tell lies about all of services you provide, and raise property taxes on the citizens to boot. Mayor Littlefield has got to go, and the sooner the better. Oh, and the "rubberstamp city council" your days should be numbered as well.
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