Voters In Wilson County Say No To Wheel Tax Hike

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LEBANON, Tenn. - In Wilson County, voters went to the polls and rejected a proposed increase in the wheel tax. The money would have built two new schools.

Property in Watertown could have been purchased for a new high school and Lebanon High School would have gotten a new building with a $25 increase.

Nearly 10,000 people went to the polls to vote on the wheel tax hike. More than 5,100 voters said no, and more than 4,400 people voted in favor of the hike.

"I was for the new school. If it had been built in my front yard, I'd been for it," said Lebanon resident James Arnold.

The current building is having problems with leakage and crowded hallways. There are only three ways a school district can fund a building project like this: wheel tax, sales tax and property tax.

"This is why a lot of the times the people are afraid of the increase because you pay it for x amount of time, but we still need money," Lebanon resident Sharan Taylor.

Wilson County Director of Schools, Mike Davis, will go before the County Commission during a Monday board meeting to try to find ways to fund their future projects.

Both projects are expected to cost as much as $60 million.