In campaign advertisements, two East Ridge councilmen introduce themselves as men who “held the line on taxes” and “voted to lower the city property tax rate.”
Decisions promoting bare-bones government may win support in a city still reeling from a six-figure budget shortfall, but the votes of Vice Mayor Tom Card and Councilman Larry Sewell are a bit more complicated.
“You could probably say it’s misleading,” Sewell said this week. “We did raise taxes [16.5 percent], and then we lowered them by a penny.”
Card did not return several calls seeking comment.
Both men ran advertisements in “Hometown East Ridge,” a magazine “dedicated to promoting the positive in East Ridge.” Sewell also touted his tax record on his Facebook re-election page.
City elections are Tuesday, and Card and Sewell are fighting challenges from Jim Bethune, Bill Breneman, Marc Gravitt and Justin Kirk. One of the major issues facing the city is a $681,999 budget deficit from fiscal year 2009-2010.
“To raise it 21 cents and back off one, you’ve still got an increase,” said Bethune, who has promised in his own advertisements to never vote for a property tax. “It’s all smoke and mirrors.”
Gravitt described the advertisements as “disingenuous,” and Kirk said they were “lies to the citizens.”
“People are tired of bull and malarkey,” Breneman said. “These ads are politically motivated for the benefit of re-election.”
Card and Sewell were elected in 2006. In 2007, the council almost approved a 22 cent property tax hike but scrapped the plan when the Hamilton County Commission passed a countywide 26 cent property tax increase.
A year later, the East Ridge City Council approved a 21-cent property tax increase to pay for a wide range of expenses, including municipal vehicles, City Hall refurbishment and employee raises. The increase from $1.07 per $100 of assessed value to $1.28 hiked taxes 16.5 percent from the previous year’s tax rate and was the first property tax hike since 1995.
Card and Sewell voted for the increase on first and second readings, meeting minutes show. Only Councilman Denny Manning voted against the measure.
In 2009, property taxes dropped because a state-mandated property reappraisal occurred in Hamilton County.
At an East Ridge meeting two weeks later — a year after they voted to increase property taxes by 21 cents — Card and Sewell joined three other councilmen in voting to lower property taxes by a penny, down to $1.12 per $100 of assessed value.
“This would fulfill the council’s desire to roll back property taxes,” then-city manager William Whitson said at the time.
Whitson resigned in August after pressure from councilmen who said he didn’t give them enough warning about declining revenues and the six-figure deficit.
TIMELINE
* July 12, 2008: Former City Manager Curtis Adams proposes a 44 percent property tax increase, from $1.07 to $1.54 per $100 of assessed value. Residents complain the hike is too steep.
* Aug. 29, 2008: East Ridge City Council passes its first property tax increase since 1995, from $1.07 to $1.28 per $100 of assessed value.
* Summer 2009: City taxes drop to $1.13 per $100 after Hamilton County property reappraisal.
* Aug. 27, 2009: City Council unanimously lowers tax rate by a penny.
* Fall 2010: Councilman Larry Sewell campaigns on Facebook, emphasizing his vote to “lower the city property tax rate.” Vice Mayor Tom Card writes that he “held the line on property taxes.”
Sources: City of East Ridge, “Hometown East Ridge” magazine, Facebook