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
