Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. To read more, visit timesfreepress.com/150years.
Republican Larry Henry was the swing vote on Aug. 22, 2005, when the Hamilton County Commission passed Resolution 805-38. The 5-4 vote to raise property taxes gave the Hamilton County Department of Education new money for school operations, the last time that occurred. Henry joined two Republicans and two Democrats in the vote before a packed room of educators.
“I knew about a week out that the votes would be there if I voted yes, and I was prepared to do that,” said Henry, who was elected circuit court clerk in 2014 after serving 12 years on the commission. “I also knew I was going to hear about it.”
The 2005 tax increase was the only time the commission held two votes to designate tax dollars between county general government and the school system in the nine tax increases since 1980, according to records from Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles.
The first vote designated 10 cents to county general government and the second 16 cents to the school system. Commissioners Charlotte Vandergriff (District 3), William Cotton (District 4), Greg Beck (District 5), Cassavant (District 2), and Henry (District 6) voted yes on both votes. Commissioners Curtis Adams (District 8), Bill Hullander (District 9), Ben Miller (District 6) and Chairman Fred Skillern (District 1) voted no.