June 26, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
A local petition drive has been launched seeking to force a public referendum after the county commission Monday night approved an initial resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds not to exceed $65 million for the development and construction of a judicial center/jail.
The petition must be filed within the next 20 days bearing signatures of at least 10% of the registered voters of DeKalb County in order for the protest to proceed to a referendum. Should there be a referendum, it would be on the issue of the bonds and not the tax levy which has been established for the 2024-25 fiscal year by the county commission.
Jon Slager, a DeKalb County native and Lascassas resident and attorney, said he is assisting with the petition drive.
In a prepared statement, Slager said “I have been approached by numerous residents of DeKalb County about assisting them with a referendum petition regarding the bond resolution passed on Monday. The bond resolution was a tie vote, but the County Mayor did cast a tie breaking vote in favor of the bond resolution”.
“The people that have contacted me are from every end of the political spectrum,” said Slager. “I think people realize that this is not a political issue, but a taxpayer issue. It is difficult for an average person to even imagine borrowing sixty-five million dollars. The people that have asked me to help are worried about DeKalb County incurring this amount of debt and how it will handcuff the county moving forward with funding for other needed building projects. I would even be willing to say that these bond and tax issues have generated more interest in county government than anything in recent memory,” Slager continued.
“The process to try to stop the bonds from being issued begins and ends with a referendum petition. This is a petition that has to be signed by registered voters of DeKalb County. Based on the amount of support, there will be a booth at the DeKalb County Fair for the rest of the week where citizens can go to sign the petition. The booth will be near the Alexandria Lion’s Club food booth. I encourage every registered voter to come by during the fair and sign the petition so that the bond issue can be placed on a ballot and voted on by the citizens of DeKalb County. If you do not get a chance to sign the petition at the fair, there will be some future announcements, likely on Facebook and other social media sites, that will provide locations and times that citizens can sign the petition at local businesses. This petition appears to be the only remedy for the taxpayers to seek, so the level of importance cannot be understated. Also, there is a limited amount of time to obtain these signatures, so time is of the essence,” said Slager.
The Initial Resolution as adopted by the county commission Monday night states as follows:
“Be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of DeKalb County, Tennessee (the “County”) that for the purpose of providing funds for the (i) acquisition of land for, design, site, development, construction, improvement, renovation, repair and equipping of County buildings, including but not limited to a County jail and judicial center and related facilities, (ii) acquisition of public safety and emergency response vehicles and equipment; (iii) payment of legal, fiscal, administrative, architectural and engineering costs incident to any or all of the foregoing; (iv) acquisition of all property, real and personal, related to the foregoing (collectively, the “Projects); (v) reimbursement to the appropriate fund of the County for prior expenditures for the foregoing costs, if applicable; and (vi) payment of costs incident to the issuance and sale of the bonds authorized herein, there shall be issued payment of costs incident to the issuance and sale of the bonds authorized herein, there shall be used bonds, in one or more series, of said County in the aggregate principal amount not to exceed $65,000,000, which shall bear interest at a rate or rates not to exceed the maximum rate permitted by applicable Tennessee law at the time of issuance of the bonds, or any series thereof, and which shall be payable from unlimited ad valorem taxes to be levied on all taxable property within the County”.
“Be it further resolved, by the Board of County Commissioners of DeKalb County, Tennessee that the County Clerk be, and is, hereby directed and instructed to cause the foregoing initial resolution relative to the issuance of not to exceed $65 million general obligation bonds to be published in full in a newspaper having a general circulation in the County, for one issue of said paper followed by the statutory notice, to wit:
NOTICE
“The foregoing resolution has been adopted. Unless within twenty (20) days from the date of publication hereof a petition signed by at least ten percent (10%) of the registered voters of the County shall have been filed with the County Clerk protesting the issuance of the bonds, such bonds will be issued as proposed”.