LESSENING THE TAX BURDEN / INCREASING THE TAX BASE

Published 7/30/25 (updated 8/20/25):

I am NOT in favor of additional taxes or a potential Wheel Tax...  We DO NOT NEED to discuss a WHEEL TAX any time soon,  

unless it is a component of re-evaluating and lessening the tax burden on property owners!

 We need to look at ALL & ANY REVENUE Options.

WE MUST INVEST in the Future of Giles County:

• Low-Hanging Fruit -  Cut, delay, re-think or reschedule non-returning capital projects and focus on infrastructure that actually PRODUCES REVENUE.

• Tourism - Fully capitalize on sales tax & hotel/ motel tax.  Develop all of our INTERSTATE EXITS - Invest in them. Promote & Invest in ALL of our municipalities and their ability to draw in Tourism. Grab the dollars from those travelling through our county and just visiting!

• Infrastructure - Water, Roads, Building Sites for Homes and Industry must be made available and brought up to 21st century standards.

• Re-Assessment of Strategic Plan - Between now and 2030, we have the opportunity to capitalize on real growth.  According to a recent housing study, Giles county needs over 700 new housing units to support the expected population growth.  UTS is expected to grow to 1520/ 1600 students, TCAT will continue to build it's foundation and impact our community, and as much as 50% of out-of-county workers will consider living in Giles County as suitable and affordable housing is available.

• Quality of Life - Invest in the services that NEW FAMILIES see desirable and want for their future: Education, Health & Safety are key to recruiting new "investors" to our community as well as retaining our current "investors."

• Recruit New Industry - Our Economic Development Committee is speaking with new Industrial Partners, hoping to land industrial commitments which will lead to economic and employment growth.  Again, we need affordable and suitable housing as part of the recruiting plan.

• More to Come >>> I have requested data to be collected on new residential electrical meters that have been set as well as TDEC septic permits.  We need real time data to better forecast our revenues and growth.

NOTE: Our Property Tax Rate will have a forced reduction in 2027 when we are mandated to re-assess all County Property... maybe we can look at our revenue gains between now and then and discuss a potential break beyond that.

Published 7/30/25:

The commission passed the 16.1% property tax increase and set the new tax rate to 2.3053.  This is a cost that will affect us ALL.  But it was passed out of necessity and with the intent of catching OUR county up to years of a falsely balanced budget.  A budget isn't truly balanced if its revenues cannot match its expenditures.  For years, we have been balancing the budget by pulling from OUR savings account, which is a practice that is not financially sound. And believe it or not, even with this Tax Rate Increase, the commission still had to almost deplete one savings account and pull an additional $1.9M from OUR main savings account to “balance” the budget.

I will offer a few ways below to help US move forward now...  These would be my suggestions if I were the current County Executive or if I'm elected.