Soddy Daisy will keep the new certified property tax rate and will not have a property tax increase, officials said Thursday. The new certified rate was set at $1.1159 for every $100 of assessed value by the state of Tennessee. It was lowered from the previous rate of $1.3524 after reassessments were done recently. The lower rate will keep revenue collected from property taxes the same as last year.
"There is no tax increase," said City Manager Burt Johnson.
Commissioner Gene Shipley thanked the city manager and all the department heads for managing money carefully which he credited for not having to raise taxes.
A public hearing and first reading was held at the commission meeting Thursday night for an ordinance amending the municipal code relating to pre-owned mobile homes. In 2014-2015 the commission passed an ordinance that was meant to improve quality of life, said City Attorney Sam Elliott. "What we found was that there is a fine line for balancing quality of life and affordability," he said.
The requirements that were made 5-6 years ago were too costly to owners of the mobile home parks, who own the trailers that are rented out, said Mr. Johnson. The board met with owners of the parks recently to come up with a plan that is a compromise of what the city wants and the owners have asked for. Among the changes, a requirement has been removed for a mobile home which is brought into a park to be newer than six years old. Remaining is the requirement that if a mobile home in the park is over 40 years old it must be replaced. There are also multiple inspection requirements that must be met.
The ordinance about advertising signs was amended. Attorney Elliott said he has addressed concerns about signs and First Amendment rights while keeping as much as possible from Soddy Daisy’s old ordinance. He said that advertising signs can be regulated as to size and location but not based upon what it says. He recommended that the commissioners pass the amended ordinance to keep the city in accordance with the Constitution.
Public meetings and first readings of two rezoning cases were approved with no citizen speaking either for or against. Land located at 10127 Card Road was rezoned from A-1 Agricultural to C-2 Local Business District. This will divide a tract into two properties. An existing home will be kept on one lot and the other will be sold.
A tract of land located at 238 Goose Creek Dr. was rezoned from R-2A Rural Residential and A-1 Agricultural to R-1 Single Family Residential to increase the lot size of a home.
The city manager said that the city received a notice to proceed with the resurfacing project on Dayton Pike and it will be put out for bid. The board gave the mayor authority to sign a contract. Bids will be opened Sept. 8 and the city is hoping to start paving in November. Dayton Pike will be resurfaced from one city limit to the other.
Police Chief Mike Sneed was given approval to order three Dodge Durango SUVs, and he was also given the authority to surplus a 2001 transport van that is no longer being used.
The city manager announced that Dallas Hollow Road will be closed on Sept. 3 for fire training with a controlled burn. More information will be available on Facebook.
Mr. Johnson also informed the commission of plans to combine all of its leases with TVA. The city has 30-year leases on property around the lake that is owned by TVA, where various parks are located. The one park not currently included is referred to as the State Park or Pine Tree Park. Soddy Daisy wants to include it with the other TVA properties that are renewed every five years. Having the long-term leases makes the city eligible to receive funding for improvements to the parks.
During the citizens participation time in the commission meeting, Cindi Sanden, who is revitalizing the Farmer’s Market, gave an update. She said more vendors are now taking part in the market than earlier in the summer and a food truck will come to the market this weekend. She is partnering with Thomas Farms to sell produce. She is also planning for a Fall Festival there for the first Saturday in October.
Jim Stewart, a two-year resident of the area who is recently retired, told the board he is trying to spend time helping keep Soddy Daisy beautiful with different projects. At the Thursday night meeting he received the commissioners' permission for exploring the creation of a city tree board. He said typically a tree board would be part of city government and would partner with a non-profit which is allowed to raise money. His plan is to partner with Keep Soddy Beautiful, the volunteer group which has been cleaning up trash along the roadways. Some ways he suggested that a tree board could benefit the city would be to educate the community by having an arborist present at public events to give advice for property, to plant trees on Arbor Day, and work with developers to protect existing trees or plant new ones. All would benefit Soddy Daisy in future growth, he said.