Bradley County School board seeks liquor money from the “city with spirit”

Bradley County School board seeks liquor money from the “city with spirit”

1/22/14
0837 am

The City of Cleveland is disputing that the Bradley County School board has a right to revenue raised from liquor sales in Bradley County Tennessee.

Mayor Tom Rowland and the City of Cleveland are clearly living up to their cities new nickname. 

The nickname was recently submitted by it’s citizens and selected by a panel of bureaucrats. 

The aptly named  “City with Spirit” definitely has the spirits (money) and is living up to it’s moniker with no signs of letting her go.

Approximately 720,000 dollars is sitting in the coffers of Cleveland City from the sale of liquor and Bradley County wants half!

According to the Title 57 statute, the two entities should split the revenue 50/50.

Title 57 states that the revenue collected from the liquor by the drink tax in each municipality (county, city, town, etc) must be split 50/50 between the general fund for that local government and the schools that lie within that municipality. Sounds pretty cut and dry to me.

The City of Cleveland, the “city with the spirits” has implied to the County that this money is not theirs and that if you want it you are gonna have to sue to get it.

So this leads to several conclusions with a set of undesirable outcomes. This will undoubtedly cost the taxpayer dearly depending on the duration and depth of litigation, will diminish expected funding of our schools, and one committee after another will be formed to fix the problem with many hours spent resolving this issue instead of focusing on our more serious issues.

Can’t we all just get along? Cant the “City with the spirit money” let go of the spirits just long enough to help the kids? Huh? 

http://www.chattanoogan.com/2014/1/21/267888/Bradley-Commission-Tables-Resolution.aspx