Hard for me to believe that they have not asked or pushed for a tax increase in 20 years. My children have been out of school for that long, so I may not remember so well. I do know that past tax increases have been to fund the school budget, so even if they didn't outright ask they asked by just submitting a budget higher than the tax base could handle.
I don't see much bang for the buck in the schools, or anywhere for that matter.

If they can do it, then why can't we do it here in Roane County?

Knox County's Mayor is a Republican and the City Mayor is a Democrat, but both realize people can't pay more. They were able to fund their schools through an entire year of hard work facilitated by open communication. Knox County employees are budgetted to receive a 2% raise instead of the 4% proposed by Roane County. I even liked Knox's one week of vacation that was designed to helped offset their employees not getting raises last year.

Who can think out side of the box in Roane County to get the level of government that we can afford?

The budget meetings in Roane have caught the attention of the Tea Party. It looks like they are keeping a list of Commissioners and elected office holders who blindly raise our taxes.

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