The Time Has Come

Expenditures are up and projected revenue is down. No kidding-after all, it is budgeting season. This week there was much brew-ha-ha regarding the new Wal-Mart that is coming to West Hamblen County and what impact that will have on Jefferson County revenues. According to the Jefferson County Finance Director Helton, he is anticipating, and the budget reflects, around $200,000 impact on sales tax. Will the local Wal-Mart actually see a 30% drop in sales? Maybe, for a little while. As any business owner knows, a new location nearly always means a honeymoon period and then things return, basically, to normal.

What is interesting is that Helton also declined to budget any increase in sales revenue for the next fiscal year because of this new store. Historically, we have been enjoying an annual increase in sales tax. So, maybe we don’t project a 6% increase, as in previous years, but no increase at all is seriously unlikely. Certainly, Wal-Mart is a big player in the sales tax revenue that Jefferson County collects, however, it is not the only game in town.

The one issue that I see looming on the horizon for Jefferson County is the one that no politician seems to want to address-at least not publicly. If the grocery stores and big box retailers in Hamblen, Cocke, Knox and Sevier Counties are selling wine in their stores, it is going to impact the revenue in Jefferson County. I don’t seriously think that the average Joe is going to drive past the Jefferson City Wal-Mart to shop in another store further up the road. That is, unless that store carries wine. Now, instead of buying groceries and gadgets in Jefferson City or Dandridge or White Pine and traveling to another county for a bottle of wine they can just buy it all in one place and have one stop shopping. I project that Jefferson County’s refusal to address liquor by the drink will be what eventually runs the revenue into the red.

These are the questions that our local politicians should be asking. Does Jefferson County already have beer and liquor by the drink available to our citizens in any area of the County? Is it illegal to purchase beer, wine or liquor in the State of Tennessee or the United States of America? Is it a legitimate revenue producer and does Jefferson County need revenue? Is it the job of the government to legislate morality or is it the job of the government manage the coffers to the betterment of their citizenship?

Like it or not. Drink or don’t. It isn’t illegal and it is a player in economic prosperity of a community. Just because it is here doesn’t mean that everyone has to buy it but those that want to could spend their dollars in Jefferson County. It is very, very simple. We need the money.