Tag Archives: Sales Tax

Cookeville and Putnam County have created an updated visitors guide to encourage experience-driven tourism and showcase the city’s local businesses. Tourism Director Shan Stout said the guide had not been updated since 2019 and many of the businesses listed had either moved or gone out of business. She said the new guide more closely favors a magazine, featuring articles and ... Read More »

Crossville looking at the formation of a Sports Authority to serve as a financing mechanism for the Recreation Center project. Crossville Mayor RJ Crawford said a Sports Authority would allow the city to leverage water rates and sales tax revenue to lower bond obligations. He said the residents of Crossville have made it clear that if building a rec center ... Read More »

White County Commissioners hope to add some $1 million in annual sales tax revenue by adding a referendum to the August county general election ballot. Commissioner Derrick Hutchings told Commissioners Tuesday night the resolution would increase the county’s sales tax from 2.25 percent to 2.75 to match the rate in Sparta. He said the extra funds could help with employee ... Read More »

White County wants to try again in evening the sales tax rate inside the county, proposing an August vote on the topic. Steering Committee A commissioners decided the issue had a better chance to bring out voters during a regularly-scheduled election, rather than a special election. Non-Sparta residents only would vote on whether to increase the county-portion of the sales ... Read More »

Jackson County Mayor Randy Heady among six Upper Cumberland Mayors who met with Governor Bill Lee to request recurring county funding. Heady said state government has always been open to offering the Upper Cumberland funding when available. He said he appreciates Lee advocating for rural communities, and long-term revenue commitment is another way for him to do that. “One-time money’s ... Read More »

Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said the T-DOT addition of a Monterey Mountain climbing lane to its ten-year project plan means improved safety. Porter said congestion and danger on that stretch of Interstate 40 was the number one response on a citizens survey sent out by the Putnam County Transportation Committee. “We have so many accidents on Monterey Mountain,” Porter ... Read More »

This week the Putnam County Commission will ratify County Mayor Randy Porter’s appointment of a new fire chief for the county. Fire Chief Tom Brown is retiring from the role after over 25 years with the department and 37 years in fire service. The board will also consider the approval of the new interlocal agreement with the Upper Cumberland Regional ... Read More »

City of Cookeville cautious of how the sales tax holiday on food items will affect the city’s revenue. The tax on food and food ingredients is set to start Tuesday and run through October 31st. City Manager James Mills said last year was the first time there was a tax holiday of that nature, and the city noticed an almost ... Read More »

Efforts to return some sales tax revenue to local municipalities did not make it to the final budget this year. Cities like Cookeville have been fighting for several years to get the money, estimated between $72 and $86 million, returned to the local budget. State Representiative Ryan Williams said because Governor Bill Lee did not include the change in his ... Read More »

A proposal to increase the sales tax in White County failed Tuesday. The referendum would have matched the county’s sales tax to the city of Sparta’s sales tax rate of 9.75 percent. The vote failed 53 percent to 48 percent. A total of 1,077 voters cast ballots in the special-called election. Elections officials called the turnout steady Tuesday after just ... Read More »