Gallatin could vote on raising city’s sales tax

GALLATIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — Voters in Gallatin could have a chance to vote on whether they would like to raise the city's sales tax. Tuesday night, the city council will consider whether to put an increase on the ballot this November.

When it comes to keeping up with the growth in the city of Gallatin, city leaders say they don't have a lot of options.

"Our options are sales tax or property tax," said Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown.

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Brown said the city has no other choice but to raise one of the two. "I think I reflect the opinion of our entire council when I say we want to keep our property taxes low because that is the greatest burden on taxpayers in our community."

Brown said property taxes haven't been raised in Gallatin in more than 20 years.

Now city leaders are looking to raise sales tax by half a cent per dollar. That means if you buy a $50 meal in Gallatin, you'd pay an extra 25 cents in sales tax.

"This could generate $3.5 million a year for the city of Gallatin, that same number in property taxes would impact just our property owners and we don't want that," Brown said.

This idea is something cities across Middle Tennessee are considering. Hendersonville recently raised its sales tax.

"In the state of Tennessee, we have the lowest tax burden in the country. There is not a lot of revenue services to support government services and we want good government services because that makes quality of life better for all of us and so finding those revenue streams that have the least impact is important," Brown said.

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This comes as the city looks for additional revenue streams for roads, parks, and city services.

"We are investing in employees, in roads, parks, land preservation, the things we know matter to our residents," Brown said. "We've done that but I think we can do it in a more robust manner with a small additional revenue stream."

Mayor Brown said the city will also be rolling out a special census this month. The city believes they were undercounted back in 2020. They were counted at around 44,000 people. Brown said that number should be at around 50,000. Each additional person would bring in $180 per year.