(MURFREESBORO) Here's an update on the series: "Who's Going To Pay for the Growth"?  It comes after the opening of the Tennessee General Assembly. That group of legislators will determine the outcome of this question?

On Thursday afternoon (1/11/2024) in the Rutherford County Courthouse, Mayor Joe Carr announced that a workable plan had been created that will allow developers and individuals who are creating the need to build additional schools, expanded police an fire protection along with other needs to be the ones who pay for those expenses, rather than the general public having this debt on their shoulders to pay with property taxes. However, for it to work, the State General Assembly must give its approval. 

The mayor stressed that in counties and communities with normal growth, infrastructure and service expansions are usually easily paid for through taxes. 

The Thursday meeting also introduced a new website for the public to share its thoughts on the topic.

See PDFs of Letters and More, all tied to the items surrounding Help Rutherford: Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, Item 4, Item 5, Item 6, Item 7, Item 8, Item 9

New Website To Help Local Residents - Carr exclaimed, "In less than 2-weeks, as of 12:00 noon on Thursday (1/11) over 2,000 residents had already signed the petition on HelpRutherford.org."

He said, "That's proof that the public is behind this plan."

Mayor Carr said...

He explained that this storm of growth is unique only to Rutherford County in Tennessee. 

National statistics prove that Rutherford County remains Tennessee's fastest growing county, along with the 43rd fastest growing county in the entire United States, with over 9,000 new residents moving here each year. The document further notes that Rutherford County is one of only three counties in Tennessee to have obtained a AAA bond rating. 

Despite Growth Challenges, Public Schools Are Remarkable - Mayor Carr stressed, "While the county earned the top bond rating by being good stewards, Rutherford County public schools now are the fourth largest school system in the entire state (only Davidson, Shelby and Knox counties are larger).

Couple that with Rutherford County schools having created Tennessee's #1 rated elementary school (McFadden Elementary), #1 middle school (Central Magnet Middle School) and #2 high school (Central Magnet High School). In addition, the county educational system was able to operate as this state's fourth largest school system, while keeping expenses per student at level #117 (not #4) out of a total of a total of 142 school sytems, while maintaining Tennessee's top graduation rate of 96.2 per cent. 

Do You Understand The Issue? - It is important for Rutheroford County residents to understand this issue. WGNS has included a complete recording of the entire 15-minute press conference. Here is that press conference...

Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr concluded, "We are simply requesting that Rutherford County is granted the same rights that many other counties and municipalities already have been using for some time. This would allow the developers and new residents moving to Rutherford County to shoulder the expenses, rather than putting it on the shoulders of current residents and property owners."

For additional information, visit the county's new website: http://helprutherford.org.