Hamilton County mayor asks legislators for part of Tennessee sales tax revenues

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger on Monday asked Chattanooga-area state legislators for help in his effort to get county government a piece of state-shared sales tax revenues.

During the meeting with lawmakers, county commissioners and other county officials, Coppinger said the issue is being taken up by fellow county mayors across Tennessee who also want the 1947 state law directing the estimated $270 million shared sales tax revenue to cities across the state to be rewritten to include the 95 counties.

"We just would like for you to take a look at that portion of state-shared sales tax and find a way to make it happen," Coppinger told lawmakers during their annual breakfast meeting with legislators at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. He said the County Mayors Association is behind the measure.

Coppinger said not giving the money to all of the county, including unincorporated areas, "disenfranchises about 100,000 people."

The formula was set when the state's first sales tax was passed in 1947.

Chattanooga, as well as the smaller towns and cities in Hamilton County, fiercely oppose the change.

"This is a short-sighted attempt to divert resources from all of our local cities that will harm our resources and ability to provide for our residents," Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said later in an interview.

He said Chattanooga taxpayers "already pay a city and county [property] tax, just like residents of East Ridge, Walden and others pay for each of those. Yet, every city throughout the county can use our infrastructure."

State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, vice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, attended Monday's meeting and has been exploring how the sales tax revenues might be split.

photo State Sen. Bo Watson is interviewed by editors during a meeting at the Times Free Press.

"Right now, we're in the conversation mode on that," Watson said. "There's been no legislation that's been drafted. There's a lot of conversation going on locally."

He said he's met with both Coppinger and officials with the Tennessee Municipal League, which lobbies on behalf of towns and cities, and continues to research the issue.

"I'm asking all parties, the mayor and cities to look at it and say, 'Is this the right way to do it? Is there a better way to do it?'"

Watson said cities are telling him "the state should be giving more back to both the cities and counties."

The senator represents much of unincorporated Hamilton County, but his district also includes several smaller cities.

Asked if there could be a bill, Watson said, "If I can get the parties to a point that I'm comfortable with for both parties, there could be. But there's going to be a lot more conversation."

Each year, the state returns a small portion of sales tax revenue - 4.6 percent of 6 percent of the 7 percent state sales tax - to municipalities based on population, the Times Free Press reported earlier this year. The bigger the city, the larger the share. That's in addition to the local sales tax cities and counties already collect.

For cities, sales tax sharing amounts to a small part of the billions Tennessee annually collects in sales taxes. Last year, it amounted to more than $270 million to cities across the state.

Hamilton County's 10 municipalities received $17.7 million, with Chattanooga receiving most of that, according to the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Assistance Service. Chattanooga could lose $3.9 million under one county-sharing scenario, according to MTAS figures. East Ridge could lose about $485,500.

Coppinger argues the 1947 law was written well before cities began large pushes to annex unincorporated areas of the county. Hamilton County would see about $5.5 million, according to the scenario examined by MTAS last summer.

In Hamilton County, Coppinger said, the county's general fund gets only about $3 million currently in sales taxes from stores in the unincorporated portion of the county.

Monday's meeting with the local delegation of state senators and representatives was an opportunity for county officials and commissioners to push their priorities before lawmakers convene their annual session at the state Capitol in January.

Officials also made requests for help in areas ranging from full state funding of the revamped school formula known as Basic Education Program 2.0, to boosting the state's reimbursements to the county for housing prisoners.

The school formula apportions state funds to local districts based on a county's relative wealth; that is, it's ability to pay for its share of education. The BEP 2.0 revamp was intended to change the factors that determine a local government's ability to pay. It was pushed by Hamilton County in the mid-2000s but was only halfway implemented.

photo Todd Gardenhire makes a point in this file photo.

"But anything, any step toward additional funding for BEP would be greatly appreciated and again would be helpful," Coppinger told legislators, who including Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, chairman of the seven-member legislative delegation, and Rep. Patsy Hazelwood, R-Signal Mountain.

Gardenhire said several legislators were home ill, while House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, had to be in Nashville.

Circuit Court Clerk Larry Henry asked legislators to assist in continuing a $2 fee on general court filing charges which is scheduled to terminate on July 1. Noting a number of fees haven't been increased in 10 to 15 years, Henry said collection of the $2 fee has averaged close to $35,000 a year.

Coppinger, meanwhile, said the county badly needs additional state financial support to house inmates at the Hamilton County Jail. Medical and other costs continue to rise, he said. The state currently pays the county $37 per prisoner per day.

Other county government priorities include:

* Giving Hamilton County government the ability to ban smoking on county-owned property. Local officials have launched a health-related effort to curb smoking here.

* Supporting measures to develop a "long-term funding solution" for both local road maintenance and construction as well as mass transit initiatives. Haslam has pushed for a gas-tax increase, but some fellow Republicans in the legislature are opposed.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com, 615-255-0550 or follow via twitter at AndySher1.

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