News

1/25/05
As reported in the The Dickson Herald:

Dickson County residents overwhelming endorsed a $20 wheel-tax hike Thursday. The vote to raise the county’s wheel tax from $64 to $84 was approved 2,924 to 1,897. [ more ]

My Two Cents
By Cindy Sobota

The saying - you can lead a horse to water, but you can not make it drink OR is it you can educate a man, but you can not make him think - is going through my mind right now.

The Dickson County Chamber of Commerce & the Dickson County Board of Education had better sales people than we did and Dickson County voted IN the Wheel Tax increase. Dickson County Mayor Linda Frazier was delighted with the results.

I am very pleased with the vote. I think that we did a good job of educating the people and they realized their responsibility to the county and they stepped up to the plate,” Frazier said.

The Dickson Herald stated Wednesday that Mayor "Frazier has said that the wheel tax hike could help prevent a property tax increase." (Source: The Dickson Herald, January 19, 2005, pg A11)

The kicker is that the Mayor did not even wait to announce that we needed BOTH a Wheel Tax increase AND A PROPERTY TAX increase - but the property tax increase will not, now, be as much as it would HAVE BEEN had the wheel tax not passed.

I must respond to the "they realized their responsibility" bit - It is THE PEOPLE's responsibility to elect people to REPRESENT them. It is THE ELECTED's responsibility to do what is needed to be done, not what is easiest or most popular. What is needed is budget CUTS, not a "raise because they are good people" or "we have made progress, let's not go back" or "we need to keep up the base, so we need to keep spending in the roads"

I am disgusted.

1/11/05
The Dickson Chamber of Commerce only presents 2 options here . . . I would like to propose a 3rd - Cut The Budget!!! Remember, we can NOT petition a property tax increase.

January 7, 2005

To Members of the Dickson County Chamber of Commerce:

At the December meeting of the Board of Directors, the Board passed a resolution supporting the referendum to increase the wheel tax by $20.00. The Board believes the property owners of Dickson County should not carry the full burden of increased taxes.

Dickson County is in a financial crisis and the County must raise additional revenues to meet its budget commitments. These additional revenues will come from the property owners of Dickson County through an increase in the property tax rate. However, by approving the wheel tax increase, the property tax increase can be reduced and shared by non-property owners living in Dickson County. The revenues generated from the increase of the wheel tax are equivalent to a 13-cent property tax increase. We believe everyone in Dickson County, not just the property owners, should share the burden of increased taxes to fund the County's budget shortfall.

The Board of Directors of the Dickson County Chamber of Commerce encourage you to vote YES on the referendum to increase the wheel tax. Election day is Thursday, January 20, 2004.

Sincerely,

David Hamilton

President/CEO
Dickson County Chamber of Commerce

12/20/04
County Commissioners Meeting, check out the personal minutes here.

12/19/04
This is not county specific but it is something everyone in Dickson should know about. State Senator Doug Jackson is supporting a constitutional ban on a state income tax. If you would like to support him in this effort, please let him know how you feel. He can be reach by phone or by e-mail.

1-800-449-8366 ext. 1-4499
sen.doug.jackson@legislature.state.tn.us
Website

12/14/04
Two new downloads are available, "General Fund Checkbook" and the "County Trustee Balance Sheet". Check them out.

12/6/04
The Dickson County Commission met for a Special Called Session on Monday, December 6th, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. and then had it's regularly scheduled meeting afterwards. [ click here for personal minutes ]

12/2/04
The Dickson County Commission will meet in a Special Called Session on Monday, December 6th, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. [ view public notice ]

11/30/04
On Tuesday November 30, 2004, the county commission held a special meeting to discuss the current budget issues and the proposed tax hikes to cover the "hole" the county is in. The meeting went on for 2.5 hours so I will only summarize what was discussed and decided.
[ click here for full story ]

11/29/04
We have received word from Luanne Greer that we have enough certified petitions to recall the Wheel Tax increase. The Mayor's Office has sent word that there will be a 'Special Called Working Session' of Commissioners to be at the Commissioner's Courthouse at 7pm on Tuesday, November 30th, 2004. [ view public notice ]

11/18/04
We turned in the Wheel Tax Petitions on Nov 17th to Candra Corlew of the Dickson County Elections Office. We obtained 2,561 signatures. Thank you for your support through out this challenging time.

http://www.tntaxrevolt.org

Caption of above picture: News Wednesday Nov. 17 - Cindy and Dave Sobota, along with their children Aaron and Alyssa, turn in 2,561 petition signatures to the Dickson County Election Commission. When these signatures are certified, the taxpayers of Dickson County will be able to have a say in how much wheel tax they are willing to pay out of their family Budgets.

11/15/04
County Commissioners Meeting, check out the schedule and personal minutes here.

11/10/04
We have 2300 signatures and I am hoping to turn in 2500. To force a referendum, I need 1,370 certified signatures. That number is 10% of the last general election (Not this past Nov 2 election). Luanne Greer - the Administrator of Elections - is hoping to be done with the certification by Dec.1, as that is when the new wheel tax goes into effect.

11/8/04
We are currently petitioning the raising of Dickson County's Wheel Tax increase of $20 per car that is to go into effect 1 Dec 2004 if we do not get enough signatures to put it up for a vote by the people.