Collegedale Mayor John Turner and City Manager Ted Rogers don’t like the fact that street addresses within the city are listed as Ooltewah, Tenn.
And it’s not just about semantics.
“There is another move afoot here either at the national or state level to impose an online sales tax,” said Rogers. “Wherever the ending address is, is where the sales tax goes. If that tax was levied, you’d want the tax to go to the proper municipality.”
With all of the city’s street addresses listed by the United States Post Office, United Parcel Service and Federal Express as Ooltewah, not Collegedale, he said it stands to reason that Hamilton County could receive those tax dollars instead of the city.
Currently, Collegedale has its own post office but the building does not deliver mail, instead serving as a hub for P.O. boxes.
“The ultimate goal is to have a postal facility constructed inside the city of Collegedale where mail carriers deliver mail to businesses and residents inside the city of Collegedale,” said Rogers. “The problem is we’re fighting an organization that’s part of a government bureaucracy that’s also fighting itself just to survive.”
At the City Commission’s last meeting, Turner asked City Attorney Sam Elliott about looking into potential legal action to help resolve the issue.