Wheel Tax Fails in Sumner County

Sumner County schools will not get the proceeds from a $25 wheel tax hike. Photo by Blake Farmer/WPLN

A wheel tax hike to fund schools in Sumner County failed overwhelmingly. More than 60 percent of voters were against the $25 tax increase, even after a budget stalemate led to a two-week delay in the opening of schools this year.

Joann Brown is a retiree from Westmoreland who doesn’t believe the school system is in such dire need.

“The school can find money if they want it. There are senior citizens that don’t have a very big income and still have to pay it, and I don’t think it’s right.”

The Sumner County wheel tax hike was to raise nearly $3 million a year.

Not everyone voting “no” was against raising taxes of any kind. Some said the county commission should instead raise property taxes – the traditional source of school funding.