Dye: Moore County can’t have it both ways

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Moore County wants better roads, dependable emergency services, and public facilities that work. Bradley Dye understands. As chairman of the county's Budget Committee, he also knows what those things cost.

And somebody has to pay for them.

The District 4 Metro Council member sees Tuesday's narrow approval of a quarter-cent sales tax increase as a way to help Moore County maintain its existing services and infrastructure.

"We have stuff that needs to be fixed," Dye said Wednesday. "Older stuff in town ... needs to be upgraded."

According to unofficial returns, voters approved the increase Tuesday, Nov. 3, by 1,185 to 1,082, a margin of 103 votes. The measure passed with 52.3% support after failing twice in 2024, clearing the way for the combined sales tax rate to rise from 9.5% to 9.75%. An implementation date has not been determined.

That's another 25 cents on a $100 taxable purchase. County officials estimate the increase could generate $80,000 to $100,000 in additional annual sales tax revenue, possibly reaching $125,000 if taxable sales are strong. Those estimates represent total collections before the education allocation.

Under Tennessee law, half of countywide local-option sales tax collections goes toward education. The other half is distributed according to where sales occur and applicable local arrangements. The increase isn't earmarked for a particular project.

Dye doesn't expect the additional revenue to pave every road or solve the county's budget problems. He's thinking about the expenses Moore County will face five, 10, or 20 years from now.

And he has a pretty good example right outside his front door.

One new house, roughly twice as many children

Dye lives on Price Hollow Road, where he estimates only one additional house has been built in roughly 20 years. Yet the number of children living along that road has roughly doubled.

When he was growing up, Dye remembers seven to nine children in the neighborhood. Today, he estimates there are 17 to 20.

Those children need schools, transportation, water, and eventually the same emergency services their parents depend on. Delivery trucks and service vehicles also travel those roads more frequently than they did a generation ago.

Dye counted four or five different delivery or service vehicles coming down his road in a single day.

He offered his own three daughters as another example. If they eventually build homes on the family farm and raise children in Moore County, the population grows without a developer ever breaking ground on a subdivision.

"I would expect the same services for my children and my grandchildren and their spouses as I want now for my parents," he said.

It's a side of Moore County's growth debate Dye believes gets overlooked. Even when residents resist subdivisions or industrial development, families continue growing, vehicles keep coming, and infrastructure wears out.

"Our infrastructure as a whole needs as much help as it can get," he said.

The tourists are already here

Dye believes visitors will contribute significantly to the additional revenue, including people who pass through Moore County on their way to Tims Ford Lake.

He pointed to Jiffy Mart, where travelers pulling boats crowd the parking lot on summer weekends. They might not be headed to the Square, but they still stop for drinks, snacks, and other supplies.

Gasoline purchases don't generate local sales tax, but qualifying purchases inside the store do. The same applies to visitors buying Jack Daniel's merchandise, eating at local restaurants, or shopping downtown. "Those pennies add up," Dye said.

In an August column, Ryan French, executive director and CEO of the South Central Tennessee Tourism Association, cited Zartico data showing nonresidents accounted for 79% of measured credit- and debit-card transactions in Moore County.

French also reported that nonresidents accounted for 77% of measured retail transactions and 73% of restaurant transactions. Those figures measure the number of transactions, not the dollar value of purchases or the percentage of sales tax revenue paid by visitors.

Dye readily admits his own family shops in Tullahoma, where Moore County residents already pay that community's local sales tax. He believes Lynchburg should collect what it can from the visitors its businesses attract.

"This was more tourist-driven than local-driven," he said of the sales-tax referendum. "It's to help the locals capture as much as we can of what comes through our community."

Local residents will pay the increase, too, and Dye understands why that troubles some families. He recalled conversations with older residents who described struggling to choose between paying bills and buying medicine.

"That's been a big eye opener for me," he said.

He doesn't dismiss those concerns. But he worries about relying heavily on property owners to support services used by visitors and residents alike.

Everybody wants services until the bill comes

Serving on the Budget Committee has given Dye a closer look at what county government costs.

He recalled a resident asking when a particular road would be paved. Dye explained how limited local highway funding must stretch across personnel expenses and other needs, while state money helps support equipment and maintenance.

The resident acknowledged he hadn't known the figures.

Dye pointed to another challenge: finding workers willing to staff the county's convenience center for $13 an hour. Residents want dependable service, but employees expect fair wages, too.

"We can't fix everything," he said. "We have a strain on our infrastructure."

Dye knows what some of those services are worth because he's needed them himself.

When his barn caught fire, emergency personnel responded within minutes, with neighboring departments providing assistance. When his mother fell and broke her collarbone, emergency medical personnel were there.

He also described an attempted theft at his home that underscored why he believes trained officers need to be available when residents call.

Those experiences shape his response when residents question spending on deputies, emergency medical personnel, and other essential services. "Everybody doesn't want it till they need it," Dye said.

Visitors depend on those services, too. A medical emergency at a tourist attraction or a serious accident involving travelers can require the same local responders Moore County residents rely on every day.

Dye believes visitor spending should help support those services. The quarter-cent increase won't automatically purchase an ambulance, hire another deputy, or replace aging county equipment. Those decisions still must go through the budget process.

He cited the pool as an example of a public amenity requiring ongoing upkeep. Dye said he doesn't use the community swimming pool himself, though the community rents it for parties and youth activities.

Looking beyond the next budget

At 36, Dye balances his council responsibilities with farming, operating another business, and raising three daughters. He's also thinking about what Moore County will look like when those daughters have families of their own.

His work on the Budget Committee has shown him how difficult it can be to balance requests for better services against available revenue. It has also reinforced a question he believes Moore County must confront.

If residents want to limit industrial development and slow residential growth, where will the money come from to maintain and eventually replace aging infrastructure?

Even if construction slows, Moore County still faces rising costs for fuel, asphalt, electricity, vehicles, and labor.

"Nobody likes taxes," Dye said. "I don't like taxes."

He understands the financial pressure on residents, particularly those living on fixed incomes. But postponing necessary expenses, he believes, can leave the next generation with a larger bill.

Tuesday's referendum passed by just 103 votes, hardly an overwhelming endorsement of higher taxes. Nearly 48% of voters opposed it.

That leaves the Metro Council and Budget Committee with work to do. The additional noneducation revenue must be accounted for in future spending decisions, and residents will have an opportunity to judge whether the increase produces meaningful results.

Five years from now, one measure of Tuesday's vote will be what Moore County can show residents it maintained, repaired, or improved with those additional tax dollars.

"We want all this stuff to be better," Dye said. "But ... nobody comes up with a solution, how to pay to make it better."