Henderson Co. officials consider passing new wheel tax

HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — A proposal for a new wheel tax in Henderson County has many residents wondering where the money would go.

On Tuesday, the Henderson County Commission passed a new $40 wheel tax on the commission’s first reading. The commission could bring it up for a second reading as early as next month.

The original discussions were related to salary increases in the sheriff’s department, which led many residents to assume the wheel tax approved on Tuesday was to fund that.

But Henderson County Sheriff Brian Duke says they already made cuts to get those raises.

“We were able, in our department, to fund those raises, so we don’t need that extra money,” Sheriff Duke said.

The current wheel tax in Henderson County is $40. The proposed wheel tax would add another $40 wheel tax, in addition to the existing one.

Henderson County Finance Director Lee Wilkinson says the tax, if approved, addresses an existing funding problem.

“When this wheel tax would go into effect, it’s going to replace revenue that is tied to state inmates,” Wilkinson said.

The sheriff’s office has brought in more than $10 million to the county since 2012, when they started housing state inmates in the county jail. The state pays sheriff’s offices to house those inmates.

Sheriff Duke says problems started when the county commission reduced their sources of revenue — including property taxes — under the belief that the jail would continue bringing in money.

“Great idea in theory, and it worked for several years,” Sheriff Duke said. “But no, it was probably not the best practice looking back.”

Then the jail got overcrowded.

In order to properly run the jail, the sheriff’s office had to send state inmates to other jails.

Meaning, revenue from the state dropped.

“I warned the county commission in September of 2018 that our inmate numbers were trending upwards, and that we were at capacity, and sometimes, a little over,” Sheriff Duke said.

“Something has to be done to make up the gap of what the jail used to bring and what the county needs,” he said.

Wilkinson says the proposed wheel tax would not fund anything new with the sheriff’s department. He says it would just replace lost revenue.

“In essence, it’s not money that’s going directly to the sheriff’s department. It’s going to the general fund,” Wilkinson said.

Both Sheriff Duke and Wilkinson believe the reliance on the sheriff’s department for revenue is causing problems.

“When the county built the jail, we should have never used the revenue tied to state inmates to balance the budget,” Wilkinson said.

“The commission has done that for almost 12 years. I mean, that was a former commission, but it has put us in a bind,” Wilkinson said.

It’s this financial bind that they say requires the new wheel tax.

“Us as a team, the sheriff, myself, the commission, the mayor, is coming together to try and fix this problem,” Wilkinson said.

The wheel tax would need two-thirds majority approval in order to pass.