Photo: Commissioner Jay Travis, foreground, makes a point during Monday’s work session. Shannon McFarlin photo.
By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–Meeting for a lengthy work session, members of the Henry County Buildings and Grounds committee and Henry County Commission Monday evening continued its study of how the county will pay for needed improvements to aging government buildings.
A slide presentation centered on a wheel tax, which revolves around Henry County’s vehicle registrations, which number some 33,630.
The High School Improvement Tax which was the revenue source which paid for capital improvements to the high school was passed by Private Act. The county commission passed a resolution to urge the General Assemly to enact the Private Act in 2017. The $25 that was added July 1, 2018, will expire July 1 of 2025.
Ways to add a wheel tax:
–Passage of a resolution by a 2.3 vote of the county commission at two consecutive regular commission meetings
–Passage of a resolution by the county legislative body by a regular majority with approval by referendum provided for in the referendum.
–By Private Act.
According to the slide presentation, “Notwithstanding a population classification exception, the two-thirds majority resolution method is subject to a referendum if a petition signed by a number of registered voters equals 10 percent of the number of voters in the last gubernatorial election.”
The County Clerk’s deadline to remove, keep or add tax is 120 days prior to July 2025, making the deadline March of 2025.
The Commission’s timeline for:
Plan A Wheel Tax would be: October, first vote by county commission; November, second vote; December deadline for referendum, if this is a yes, it moves to election. December-March Election; March -June 120 days County Clerk; July 1, 2025 impement tax.
Plan B would be: Wait for tax increase on real estate.
The majority of commissioners agreed that county employees must be removed from the County Courthouse Annex building on West Washington St. as soon as possible. Buildings and Grounds Chair Marty Visser reminded everyone the committee has been discussing the dilemma of aging government buidings since July. “We know we need to get out of that building. We’ve talked about building new, remodeling, who goes where and there’s a lot we don’t know yet. But we do know we need to get them out of that building” because of safety concerns.
Visser said the wheel tax has been contemplated “and it’s probably our best route.” He noted that with the current wheel tax expiring, it would not be a new tax but a replacement of the current tax.
Commissioner Jay Travis said, “We all know we need to get this ball rolling. Everybody knows we have money issues. We don’t have enough money, but we also know we need to get them out of the annex. Every commissioner knows we’re going to need the money.”
County Mayor Randy Geiger said the TRC building on Hwy. 79S “has a lot of potential and we need to discuss that more” as a solution to part of the county’s building problems. County Highway Supervisor Richie Chilcutt said an architect who has worked in the county toured the health department, TRC building, annex, courthouse recently and recommended use of the TRC building and said he could draw up some plans.
The next meeting of the Buildings and Grounds committee will be at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7.
In business during a special meeting right before the work session, the commission authorized Geiger to hire, fire and supervise up to eight new county employees (medics, ambulance drivers and other employees to support ambulance services) and authorized Geiger to enter into an agreement with American Medical Response of Tennessee regarding the employees and to provide ambulance services to Henry County.