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LENOIR CITY, Tenn. — After nearly two hours of deliberation — and a swath of debates spurred by the public and their representatives in Lenoir City — a 5-1 vote of approval finally solidified the resolution for a sales tax referendum within the corporate city limits to be voted on by city taxpayers in the upcoming 2026 election cycle.

LOCAL CAUSES … AND A CAVEAT

The tax, initially premiered on December 1, sees a 0.75% increase to the current sales tax in Lenoir City, commonly referred to as “$0.75 on $100 worth of groceries” by city representatives, that will go toward two projects City Council has taken an investment in as growth and development have continued to define the tenures of almost every representative in Loudon County over the past several years. With the estimated $4 million in new revenue, roughly $1 million of that would be slated to help fund Loudon County Habitat for Humanity and its Housing and Community Preservation Fund … with the remainder of the money being allocated toward improvements and renovations throughout the Lenoir City Parks and Recreation system.

However, as explained by Lenoir City Mayor Tony Aikens on a number of occasions, there is a caveat wherein Loudon County Commission could vote to claim a large sum of the new revenue for themselves, meaning that about half of the new tax dollars could go toward County operations if that body chose to do so. So far, Loudon County officials have made no mention of an intention to claim any of the funds if this tax hike is voted into effect by Lenoir City residents.

Currently, the Lenoir City sales tax rate is set at 2%, but officials state that, in reality, they only see a fraction of those pennies once the final tallies come in. With a huge portion of the proceeds going to the state of Tennessee, and the remainder of that money split between Lenoir City schools and Loudon County, the city as a singular entity only sees a fraction of what the rate is set at.

While some residents voiced skepticism of allowing a private entity to enter into a financial agreement with their local government, the majority of the Council seemed confident that Habitat’s efforts would be far more productive than anything they could drum up on their own.

“I would say that, in terms of the effort to preserve housing in the community, I think that Habitat, in my opinion, would do a better job of stewarding the money than the city would be trying to build another department or staff up to do an activity that’s already being done successfully,” said City Council Member Todd Kennedy during the public hearing portion of the December 29 meeting.

HELPING SENIORS, VETS AND THE DISABLED

The estimated revenue received by Habitat, as described at multiple sessions of Lenoir City Council, would go to refurbish and repair existing infrastructure with an emphasis on homes owned by senior citizens, veterans and individuals with disabilities that prevent them from affording or executing the work themselves. Habitat’s Executive Director Tony Gibbons has provided robust presentations at all three meetings, detailing how a prolonged and city-funded partnership could be beneficial to housing in need of playing catch up with newer, stronger developments and maybe even have those efforts trickle into something more well rounded if the body chose to do so once in a place of financial comfortability with the program.

And, as a response to that aforementioned skepticism, transparency was also a huge highlight when City Council members and residents inquired about best practice and self regulation. Habitat’s Gibbons and Mayor Aikens were both under the impression that some sort of memorandum of understanding and accountability process from the state or another entity would be implemented if the bill were to pass in the new year.

Gibbons also stated that a website with all the relevant information for these kinds of concerns was already available — with more updates coming in the very near future.

“One of the things that we would be making available are the bank statements for that account, so that everything can be reconciled,” Gibbons said. “This is not just ‘Here’s the receipts’ — you would be able to tie a string all the way through.

“From the delivery of the funds down to the expenditure and any interest that’s gained from that account and how it stays within the community for the purpose that it’s intended.”

According to Habitat’s presentations over the past month, more than half of Lenoir City’s existing housing stock is 50 years old or older, and almost a quarter of the general city population falls under the senior citizen demographic. Their statistics showed an average new home cost in Lenoir City just shy of $530,000, and almost 20% of Lenoir City residents living below the poverty line.

YOUTH SPORTS EXPANSION, MORE

Zach Cusick, the Lenoir City Parks and Recreation Director, also reiterated desires to use the potential revenue from this referendum to expand current youth sports circuits across the board … providing things like adequate parking and the potential for more facilities down the line to accompany the immense growth their programs have seen in recent years.

According to Cusick, they’ve seen anywhere from a 13% jump in participation with flag football to an almost 35% increase in attendance at girls softball practices and games in the past four years — equating to 20 more teams a year and 180 more children playing annually.

While Cusick did explain that extra park land is currently scarce, he’s been known to “get creative” with existing grounds in the past, allocating more activities on the same amount of acreage when needed.

Other potential projects Cusick highlighted included additional pickleball courts, more senior programming, turf replacement at certain park locations, and more improvement projects as the department is made aware of the need.

While support and dissent alike for the proposal was heard at the December 29 session, Council members and Mayor Aikens kept stressing the choice that was being afforded to taxpayers by placing the tax raise on a ballot rather than voting the hike into fruition with little regard for their constituents. Continuously citing the recent property tax increase imposed in Loudon County, many city officials state that they were weary to mirror that process.

“We’re giving the people the choice to vote for this,” the mayor said.

“If they choose not to do it, then fine. It’s our job, in my opinion, to tell them what the need is, and to try and have a remedy for it.

“I believe, and I think the majority of the City Council believes, that this is the right remedy.”

More information regarding the referendum will be made available online, with multiple sources stating that updates would be made regularly to reflect the nature of the proposal and its presence on the 2026 ballot.

The website dedicated to the referendum can be found at secure.qgiv.com/event/housingcommunitypreservationfund/.