By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.—Henry County Mayor Brent Greer announced at Monday night’s County Commission meeting that ground-breaking for the new Paris Landing Inn will occur in November and it is hoped Governor Bill Lee will be on hand.
With the state’s announcement in June that an additional 25 rooms will be added to the new Inn, Greer said, “Everything is moving positively and it looks like the Inn will be open for business” in the Spring of 2021.
Greer said he met recently with state building commission officers and said the new architectural renderings (which were published on our website last week) “look very good. This has been a real battle for our community but it will be a positive thing in the end.”
The former Inn was demolished to make way for a more modern, but smaller Inn at Paris Landing State Park.
At a short but busy session, the commission also approved a PILOT agreement for Dana Sealing Products Co., okayed the county budget and acknowledged receipt of the $425,000 Capital Outlay note for funding the county’s Emergency Radio Project and to renovate Weston Hall for the County Elections Office. Monday night’s meeting was recessed from last week’s session.
The PILOT agreement (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) with Dana to expand its operations and make a capital investment of $10M or less for industrial equipment. Greer said the equipment will be used to make batteries for electric cars. “This is a fine corporation, and this will ensure they will be here for years to come,” Greer said. The agreement is for seven years and Dana agrees to maintain its work force of 552 jobs.
The total $155,097,320 budget approved by the commission includes a general fund of $12,235,817. The tax rate is $2.091, which is the same as last year. The budget also includes a $200,000 impact payment from the state for the loss of revenue from not having the Paris Landing Inn in operation. This is the second straight year for that payment to the county.
The budget includes a two percent cost of living raise for county employees.
Greer also reported that all five local banks bid on the $425,000 Capital Outlay note for the county’s Emergency Radio Project and the renovation of Weston Hall. He said the winning bid was from Commercial Bank and Trust at 2.55 percent. Greer said, “We really appreciate that all the banks bid on it and we had said we would only do the project is the rate was less than 3 percent, so that was good. This is positive for the community. It’s a fair interest rate.”
Renovations of Weston Hall for the county Elections Office will begin in the next week to 10 days, he said.
Photo by Shannon McFarlin
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