Hamilton County Mayor Jim CoppingerThe legislative breakfast last week where County Mayor Jim Coppinger asked for a helping of state-shared sales tax money left local small-city mayors with heartburn.
Coppinger told members of the Hamilton County legislative delegation the 100,000 or so residents in the county’s unincorporated area should be at the table, not just the 10 municipalities, when state-shared sales taxes are distributed.
But small-city officials say dipping an extra ladle into that sales-tax pot will force cities to either cut services or raise property taxes.
And that’s what they told Coppinger when he called them together in July and announced his plans, Collegedale Mayor Katie Lamb said.
“We all told him then, almost to the last person in that room, that was not something we could agree to,” Lamb said.