LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) – Lenoir City taxes are staying where they are after residents voted against a sales tax hike on Saturday. But, the mayor believes the increased tax would have helped schools.
“The school board, city council and I decided that it was needed. Not wanted, but needed,” Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens said.
An effort by Lenoir City to expand schools failed this weekend. Currently, the city’s sales tax is 9%, but city and school board leaders wanted to raise that by 0.75%, with the money going toward expanding the elementary and middle schools to allow for more students.
“I visited those schools, and I was in agreement. They were busting at the seams,” the mayor said.
In a special election on Saturday, Lenoir City residents voted against the referendum 496-236.
Mayor Aikens said the tax raise would have generated an extra $4 million a year for the city. Half of it would have gone toward school expansion with the other half going toward a new senior center. The mayor said the next closest one is in Loudon.
Mayor Aikens said he’s disappointed because the sales tax increase wouldn’t have made that big of a difference for people.
“$100 worth of groceries, 75 cents. You pay an additional 75 cents,” Mayor Aikens said.
The mayor said the school board will have decisions to make to handle overcrowding, like the possibility of portable classrooms.
Mayor Aikens said it’s up to the school board to handle the next steps. WVLT reached out to the director of schools for comment but did not hear back.
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