Alcoa's decision to raise sales tax by 0.5 percent for a school is welcomed by City Commission

Alcoa City Commission thinks the campaign to raise the sales tax 0.5 percent to pay for a new high school is going well. Progress was also reported on recruiting a major retailer for the West Plant property.

“My gut feeling is that it’s going to happen,” said Alcoa City Manager Mark Johnson at his commission briefing Thursday afternoon.

The commission had Blount County Election Commission put the issue of whether to raise the sales tax in Alcoa on the Aug. 2 ballot.

“I talked to several people from St. Ives and Andover subdivisions and every one of them said they’re going to vote for it. They said it’s better than a 40-cent property tax increase,” said Commissioner Vaughn Belcher.

“The education people are really working hard on this — making phone calls and visits,” said Commissioner Ken White.

Both White and Johnson said they have not heard of any groups actively opposing the increase.

The sales tax in Alcoa would go from 9.25 to 9.75, the maximum allowed by the state legislature.

The increase, if approved, would likely go into effect Oct. 1.

Johnson said if the increase passes, the commission will then amend its fiscal 2013 budget to include the anticipated revenue increase.

Then if Blount County Commission were to get the same increase approved for the entire county in the November election, the split would not start until the next fiscal year, because Alcoa would have budgeted the anticipated amount, Johnson said.

That would mean that for nine months the entire 0.5 percent would go to Alcoa, which would amount to about $2.2 million. Once the county began taking its share, the amount going to Alcoa would be halved.