Letter to SpartaLive

Dear SpartaLive,

I am a recent transplant to White County.  I love it here, and I am trying to get more involved with the county in which I chose to move to. That being said, I have recently attended some White County commissioners’ meetings to try and understand how things work here.

This is what I learned;

At one of the meetings, I heard about the upcoming State and Federal Primary Election Ballot this August.

It is Resolution 04-02-2024 and it will raise White County sales tax from the current rate of 9.25% to 9.75%.

Now this is higher than where I came from, and I am not a fan of tax increases, but I continued to try and understand this need.

The city of Sparta already taxes purchases made within the city limits at 9.75%, but what I did not know is that the state keeps 7%. The remaining 2.25% are shared within the county, and the remaining 0.5% is kept in the city.

Based on the last five years of data, this equates to an additional $79,400 per month that the city of Sparta is collecting each month that the citizens of White County get no benefit from.

If the county sales tax is increased by 0.5% bringing it up to 9.75%, the city of Sparta will be REQUIRED by law to split that $79,400 with the county (T.C.A. Code Title 67 Chapter 6 part 7).

This means that an ADDITIONAL $39,700 per month will be available for the county’s needs.  Think of this as well, the tax increase will generate by purchases made outside the city limits to $43,200 per month.

If you add the $39,700 that the city will have to share with the county and the $43,200, it comes to $82,900 per month or $994,800 per year.

Now I don’t know about anyone else, but this is a considerable amount of money that can be used to fund our firefighters and EMS personnel that are currently using old and obsolete equipment.

We are also losing sheriff’s deputies and correctional officers to other counties that pay more.

I was a volunteer at my local shelter where I came from because I love animals. I have visited the White County Animal Shelter, and I was surprised to hear that there is currently only ONE full-time county employee and ONE animal control officer, and he is on the road a lot answering calls.

The shelter has to be manned seven days a week, 365 days a year. Wouldn’t you agree that is a lot for two people?

These employees are paid $10,000 to $20,000 LESS than the surrounding counties. This SMALL tax increase would go a long way in helping these employees take care of man’s best friend.

These are some examples of how the additional revenue would greatly improve the safety and lives of the county’s residents.

Others that would benefit are youth sports, senior citizen programs, the “Y”, public works and more.

So, even though I am not a fan of tax increases I can clearly see how this would help us…the county and its citizens.

 Sincerely,

Nancy Boyd