Bradley County Commissioner Jeff MorelockCLEVELAND, Tenn. — Bradley County commissioners have set an April deadline for squaring away any loose ends regarding a proposed wheel tax to fund capital school projects.
On Monday, commissioners voted 13-0 to answer key questions about whether low-income elderly residents will be exempt from the proposed $32 wheel tax and how its revenues will be spent by the April 16 deadline. The proposed wheel tax — to be assessed each time a vehicle is registered in the county — is scheduled to appear as a referendum item on the August ballot.
“I will restate my position,” Commissioner Jeff Morelock said. “These needs for the schools seem evident to me.”
However, Morelock said he was convinced that for the wheel tax to pass in August, several things needed to be clarified for Bradley County voters.
Although the wheel tax proposal was offered by the Bradley County Commission’s Education and Finance committees in response to $25 million in capital funding requests by the county school system, some commissioners would like to apply some wheel tax revenues to paying down $67 million in existing school debt.