(MURFREESBORO) Rutherford County Commissioner Pettus Read was on the WGNS’ Roundtable radio program Tuesday morning (3/19/2024) to tell how the County Commission wants to place more of the expenses of building new schools, adding police, fire and ambulance services, etc. on newcomers moving into this area instead of paying for it with property taxes that are primarily funded by current residents...
The Tennessee General Assembly turned-down the county’s request last year. Commissioner Read said the State’s lack of action created a major issue...
The County Commission fine-tuned the idea and made an appointment to present the idea again to this year’s Tennessee General Assembly...
Read commented that the Rutherford County School's director, county commissioners, mayor and other community leaders were ignored.
An alternative plan is in the works by a group of East Tennessee legislators from the Tri-Cities. It may not be anything like what Rutherford County government is requesting, and Read is especially concerned with possible strings...
You heard the voice at the end say “maybe a roof”. That is the radio show’s co-host Wayne Blair. Blair is a longtime educator and former school board member, so his comment should be considered credible.
Read explained that the new plan is for use statewide, and Rutherford County’s population explosion of almost 32 percent is very different from other counties.
A study released by UT’s Data Center shows that Rutherford County has ranked first in growth of Tennessee counties—adding 9,417 new residents from July of 2021 to 2022.
Since that time, this area has had a 31.80 percent growth rate, showing that Rutherford County is Tennessee’s fastest growing county.
And it’s not just Rutherford County, last year alone, Murfreesboro was ranked as the number 3 "Boomtown" in America, according to SmartAsset.
NewsRadio WGNS feels it is important for the public to hear information directly from the source of the news. That’s why for the past several decades, that the state representatives and senators who comprise the Rutherford County delegation, have all been personally invited each month to be on WGNS every last Friday when the General Assembly is in progress.
This month that date will be March 29, 2024 (8:10-9:00AM). A section of the program allows the elected officials to personally tell what has happened over the previous month, and then the public has a period in which they can call or text questions that concern them.
