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Citizens for Better
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Next Meeting of Citizens for Better Government & Citizens for Blount County's Future
Next Blount County Commission Meeting
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Sheriff
wants to increase 911
taxes by more than 35%
Blount County Sheriff Berrong wants to increase the 911 tax on your phone bill by more than 35%. He wants to increase the monthly charge on residential phones from $1.10 per month to $1.50 per month. Charges on business phones will be increased from $2.45 per month to $3.00 monthly. A public hearing on these increases will be held at the 911 Center at 1431 William Blount Dr., on March 8th, at 4:00 pm. These
smiling
Blount County
politicians
did not have the courage to cut the Sheriff's budget So they imposed a tax increase on YOU
For
the
last
several
months
we
have
been
giving a presentation showing
a comparison of Blount County
spending with the spending of
the three counties closest to
us in population - Washington,
Sullivan and Sumner. The
comparison is based on the
FY-09 audit reports for the
counties. The spending numbers
were carefully reviewed and
adjusted to assure a true
apples and apples comparison.
The totals for each major
portion of the General Fund
Budget were then adjusted for
differences in population. The
results show that Blount
County spending is badly out
of control. The
County is spending $9 million
(23%) more than the
AVERAGE of the
other counties. More
than $5 million of this
problem is due to wasteful
spending in the Sheriff's
department. If the county
would just bring its spending
into line with the AVERAGE of
the other Counties, there
would be no need for a tax
increase and we could begin to
pay off some of our crushing
$230 million in debt. Click
on slide below to see all
slides.
 Nearly $3,000,000 in Blount County
taxes delinquent and overdue by as much as
three years. While most citizens struggle to
pay their taxes in these tough times, some
high profile members of the community, and
businesses they control, don't bother to
pay. Two are even County Commissioners.
Thruth Radio 1470, has put a compete list
of the non-payers on their
website. This list covers the tax years 2006
through 2009 and is dated 9/30/2010. Take a
look. You may be surprised at some of the
people who are on it. The Search command on
the Edit menu makes it easy to search for
your favorite non-payer, by name, address,
shell corporation, etc.
Commissioner Jim Folts starts a website
to report to the citizensCommissioner Folts has started a
new website to report what happened at each
Commission meeting. Folts explained the
website, www.jimfolts.com,
is part of a commitment he made to the
citizens during his campaign, to listen
carefully and tell everybody exactly what
their government is doing (or not doing).
Take a look and tell Folts what you think.
No idea of the person's qualifications - Vote anyway Commissioner Jim Folts offered an amendment requesting a resume or similar document on each candidate. Incredibly, the amendment was voted down. Burchfield, Carver, Caylor, Farmer, French, Greene, Harrison, Hasty, Helton, Kirby, Lail, Lambert, Melton, Moon, Samples and Wright voted NO. Only Commissioner Murrell and Commissioner Folts voted for it. Commissioners voting on important issues without any information, other than directions from the political machine, are the reason this County is in a mess. Hopefully, our Commissioners will begin to think for themselves, before it is too late. Another zoning fiasco
At the Blount County Commission Agenda meeting,
citizen Judy Dixon made an impassioned plea for some
justice in her zoning dispute with the Sheriff.
Dixon's home once backed on a pleasant open field,
zoned "Surburbanizing", a residential zoning
designation. Then, out of nowhere, without obtaining
the required building, zoning, grading or
environmental approvals, the Blount County Sheriff
build a "driving track" on the land. Before they
knew what happened, the Dixons were being treated to
flashing lights, squealing tires, sirens and
grenades, sometimes late at night. Then to maximize
the disruption to the Dixons quiet retirement, the
Sheriff invited 30 other agencies, from as far away
as Kingston, to use the facility. Now the Sheriff
has applied for a rezoning of the land to
"Regional", which apparently will enable the Sheriff
to invite his friends from all over the state and
region to come use the Blount County taxpayer-funded
facility. Meanwhile, the Dixons and their neighbors
suffer. This is one of many cases where persons
connected to the political machine have made a
mockery of the county permitting and zoning
regulations. If the 'connected few' can ignore our
zoning and permit regualtions, what good are they? |
Tonya
Burchfield
Brad
Harrison
Scott
Helton
Gerald
Kirby