VW Giveaways Force 300% Increase in Fees for Chattanooga Schools
11/9/2009
Chattanooga Public Schools will see an increase of over 300% in the stormwater fees assessed by the city.
Due in large part to the $300 million in taxpayer giveaways to Volkswagen, the city of Chatttanooga is increasing its stormwater fees that it assesses on local business and schools. For Hamilton County schools located in Chattanooga, that translates into an increase from $115, 000 per year to $385,000 - an increase of over 300%!
Under the agreement negotiated between the state of Tennessee and Vokswagen - which also failed to include a "local hire" mandate to ensure that Tennesee workers and businesses would build the plant, the company is exempt from these fees - even though the new facility will be the largest producer of storm water runoff in the county.
The agreement stipulates that all fees and taxes on its site at Enterprise South are to be paid by local governments - not VW!
In effect, VW's taxes and fees have to paid for out of the budgets of our local schools and other services - like police and fire protection.
"These costs are going to have to come from our reserves and our classrooms," said Hamilton County Board of Education Chairman Kenny Smith. "That's a very hard cost to absorb at this time of year."
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