CLEVELAND, Tenn. — A proposed 7-cent property tax hike, intended to pay for a major makeover for Lake Forest Middle School, is not going anywhere with the Bradley County Commission — at least for now.
On Monday, the proposal, sponsored by Commissioner Thomas Crye, failed to even receive a second motion to put the matter to a vote.
Before that motion’s death, Crye indicated that the tax hike had no hope of passing and that the Bradley County Commission “will continue to kick the can” on the middle school’s comprehensive overhaul.
“I don’t have eight votes to fund Lake Forest Middle School,” Crye said. “Apparently we need another year or two to discuss it.”
Bradley County’s current tax rate is $1.87 per $100 of assessed property value. Increasing the rate to $1.94 would amount to a bump of $26 a year in tax on a $150,000 home.
“We are hung up on property tax,” said Crye.
In a few weeks, the Bradley County Finance Committee will discuss a property tax increase as a means to fund the middle school makeover, said Commissioner Milan Blake, a member of the panel.
Similar efforts to implement a property tax to fund the school’s overhaul, proposed by then-Commissioner Jeff Morelock, achieved similar results while the last county commission grappled with Lake Forest funding between 2011 and 2014.
In 2012, the Bradley County Commission attempted to let Bradley County voters decide by referendum whether to fund the school rebuild project through a $35 wheel tax. The measure was defeated by a margin of 3-1.
Commissioners have estimated they will need to raise between $1.1 million and $1.3 million to cover the annual debt service on the panel’s commitment to construction and infrastructure needs for Lake Forest’s proposed overhaul.
The county has promised to put $12 million toward the project in 2016-17 “as funds are available.”
However, the county commissioner will have to raise $18 million, according to a longstanding agreement requiring Bradley County to give Cleveland City Schools $1 for every $2 it raises for its own school system, based on student enrollment figures.
The makeover plan calls for replacing nearly a dozen classroom pods, which are spread across Lake Forest’s 75-acre campus, with a central academic building composed of 57 classrooms. The project was estimated to cost between $11 million and $14 million in 2011, when figures were first presented to commissioners.
A number of commissioners have questioned whether those cost estimates are still valid, and Charlie Rose, vice chairman of the county school board, has expressed concern that 57 classrooms will not be enough.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.