Bible Park USA is having trouble finding favor in another mid-state community. Last night, the Wilson County commission couldn’t muster the necessary two-thirds majority to approve a 5% privilege tax within the planned park.
In May, Rutherford County commissioners rejected a rezoning request for the same development near Murfreesboro.
The dedicated tax in Wilson County would have paid for construction bonds and allowed developers to begin the process of finding investors for the 175-million dollar attraction. The measure failed by just one vote, despite passing a first of two required votes in November.
County Commissioner Larry West joined six others voting against the new levy. He’s skeptical of the entire project, especially the projected annual attendance.
“If they’re basing what they’re going to make on a million people, and a million people don’t show up, then what does that do to their profits or whatever is going to be?”
West says he fears Wilson County would be responsible for the bonds, though the Bible Park developer Robert Wyatt says tax-payers would have no responsibility.
Wyatt says he intends to try again with the county commission because, he says, the votes are there. Two commissioners were absent for the latest vote, and one of them previously supported the project.
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