An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
A Little News From Podunk
From our local weekly fish wrap, The Courier:
Mayor calls cutting sales tax ’scary’ (He’s a politician, of course he thinks a tax cut is scary! Probably a Dem?)
Hardin County residents who think a vote to reduce the local option sales tax rate is a vote to save five crumbling community schools from closure may be in for a shock.
They’ll just be shifting more of the cost of building two new larger schools already under construction to Hardin County property or vehicle owners, according to county Mayor Kevin Davis and the chairman of the county budget committee.
“It’s scary to think about the outcome if it’s successful,” Davis said of an upcoming referendum empowering voters to decide whethe to reduce the local option sales tax rate from the current 2.5 percent, to 1.5.
Now, if you live in the area, you know that there has been a battle going on to actually SAVE those ‘crumbling community schools’. Alas, the school board folks believe they know better than the kids’ parents, who expressed the desire NOT to close those community schools, and can the idea of the ‘mega schools’. I don’t know. Just a thought….how about toss those mega schools out the window, save community schools, where kids tend to do a lot better, and save the residents of Hardin County money…..IF they don’t try to hike rates elsewhere to pay for something no one wants.
Davis also dismisses thought of raising the wheel tax, which currently stands at $47, most of which is going toward paying off the newly built county jail.
Wait a minute. I thought the purpose of a wheel tax was suppose to be used for, well, where wheels actually go….the roads, as in city and county. THAT would explain the shameful condition of our street. Ah HA! Instead of repairing roads, they built a real big fancy jail. Got it.
“I think that some people would just stop buying car tags,” Davis explains.
Is he serious? You don’t buy your tags, you get a mega fine, right? I know we have cops around here, aren’t they suppose to deal with yahoos who don’t follow the law?
Ok, if you can actually read the whole column on The Courier’s website, have at it. Now, right below that, on the front page was this:
Commission will decide Monday night to cut tax or have referendum
The Hardin County Commission will hold a special called meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a proposal to reduce the local option sales tax rate.
The meeting is being convened as a result of a successful petition drive by Concerned Citizens for Community Schools, which claims school and county officials are wrongly using sales tax proceeds to consolidate schools.
The local grassroots groups wants the county to return to a 1997 long-range school construction and upgrade plan that did not involve school closings.
Ok, they want to return to a 1.5% tax. Personally, I like that idea. 
The current is 2.5%. In this current economic environment, you’d think the county would realize when people can spend more of their own money, they tend to spend more. How about a compromise? 2.0%?
Ok, here are a few details about our little corner of Tennessee from the 2000 census:
So, there are about 7,000 school age kids in 577 square miles. Think about that for a while. The school board has decided to bus a whole slew a kids to the county seat to a mega school. How many buses is this going to take? What about the ‘carbon footprint’? GASP! How much time? How involved are the parents going to be if they have to drive many miles on back roads to get to said mega school? How much sleep are these kids going to get if they have to be up before dawn’s crack to catch a bus? When will they get home?
Now, in contrast, if the kids continued attending schools in their own communities….. Kids are closer to home, parents are able to be more involved in the school with their children. I’m wondering, is that the purpose of these mega schools? To remove parents from involvement in their children’s education?
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