Gainesboro Aldermen Vote To Double Tax Rate To Help With Funding

Gainesboro’s Board of Aldermen voted to double the tax rate for the town Thursday night.

Alderwoman Nancy Pruett said the town could use the increase to cover infrastructure that the town did not have the funds to cover before.

“We need our roads paved, and with this before I said I didn’t think we could do that,” Pruett said. “I think we can put this towards paving our roads, after getting a look at what it might cost us.”

The increase is from .39 to .8, Pruett said that even with the increase, Gainesboro will still have one of the lowest rates of similar-sized communities.

Alderman Ricky Head said even with the raise, the town is still underfunded in some areas.

“What we’re raising it to, that’s just enough to keep our head above water,” Head said. “Yeah, it may be doubling it, but you got employees here that’s in my opinion way underpaid if you compare them to other cities.”

Pruett said there will still be people receiving breaks, so not everyone will be affected by the raise.

“We also have breaks for people who are veterans, disabled, and are 65 and older and make under a certain income,” Pruett said.

In other business from the meeting, the council discussed the possibility of voting on allowing non-resident property owners to vote in city elections. The administrator of Elections Drew McMillian said this is due to requests from business owners to participate in elections.

Aldermen also discussed what to do with the vacant lot next to the Roaring River Distillery. One option discussed was to seek out grant funding for a potential art display.