CLEVELAND, Tenn. – For the third time since April, the Bradley County Commission has shot down a proposed tax hike, intended to fund debt service for rebuilding Lake Forest Middle School, for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
On Monday evening, a 10-cent property tax increase, proposed by Commissioner Thomas Crye, failed to receive a second motion to even put the matter to a vote in a packed courthouse where a number of people held up signs urging commissioners to vote against any property tax hike.
“If we can’t support our children’s education after everything we can for the animals and the prisoners, then we have a problem with our priorities,” said Crye, who described himself as a “compassionate conservative, and not a radicalized conservative, like some in our midst.”
Several commissioners voiced opposition to any tax increase, including Commissioner Dan Rawls, founder of the Tea Party of Southeast Tennessee, who issued a “legislative call to action” by email and social media last week.
Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis, who did not include a tax increase in the budget proposal, has repeatedly told commissioners that a tax hike is not necessary at this time.