CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- The Bradley County Commission will consider today whether to increase the county lodging tax to help pay for a proposed overhaul of Lake Forest Middle School.
The measure, sponsored by Bradley County Commissioner Milan Blake, would raise the lodging tax rate from 5 percent to 7 percent and reconfigure how the money it raises is allocated.
Because the lodging tax was set up by a private act in the General Assembly, changing it would require 10 of the 14 commissioners to agree to forward the matter to the Tennessee Legislature for approval.
"The [lodging tax] is an opportunity to help us fund Lake Forest Middle School," Blake said. "It is also a fair and equitable proposal."
The Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce now receives 55 percent of lodging tax revenues, which it divides between tourism and industrial recruitment.
The county general fund gets 20 percent and the Tri-State Exhibition Center receives 25 percent.
Blake's proposal would divert 25 percent of the revenue to the county's education debt service. Allocations for Chamber of Commerce tourism and industrial recruitment would be reset at 20 percent each, while the county general fund and Tri-State Exhibition Center would receive 17 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
The recalculation is intended to send the same amount of money to those funds as they are receiving now, county officials said.
Blake said the tax changes are projected to bring in $300,000 annually for education debt service. It will take between $1.1 million and $1.3 million in annual debt service to fund the county's commitment to Lake Forest, he said.
Constructing a new academic building to replace about a dozen 40-year-old classroom pods is better than "pouring money down a black hole" to keep repairing the aging facilities, Commission Vice Chairman Jeff Yarber has said.
If money is available, the county has agreed to provide up to $12 million in 2016-17 to help pay for construction and infrastructure for the Lake Forest makeover.
The county also will have to come up with $6 million for Cleveland City Schools at the same time. Under a longstanding agreement, Bradley County must give $1 to the city school system for every $2 it raises for county schools, according to a formula based on the relative number of students in the two school districts.
"I want everyone to know that we [the Finance Committee] are consistent," Blake said of locating funding sources for Lake Forest Middle School's overhaul. "We are looking at everything available. Everything is on the table."
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.