Hamilton County Commissioner Joe Graham today asked colleagues to consider withholding new money generated for schools by Payment in Lieu of Taxes Agreements so the county can use it to pay for new school construction, but a school board attorney later disputed the county’s authority to do that.
Graham presented letters from The University of Tennessee’s County Technical Assistance Service and Superintendent Jim Scales to back up his argument that the county would be better off keeping the money instead of turning it over to the schools.
“The school board will still have a say in this money if they want it,” Graham said. “All it does is leave the money in the general fund so this governing body can vote how it’s spent before it’s spent.”
Tonight school board attorney Scott Bennett said he believes the letter is inaccurate.
“I think they’ve made an incorrect assumption,” Bennett said tonight during a Hamilton County Board of Education finance committee meeting. “If these funds were treated as tax revenue, they’d come into the school fund in appropriation. Ultimately, I believe these are your funds.”
Read more in tomorrow’s Times Free Press.