Lookout Mountain, Tn., officials are pressing the Incline Railway to charge a $1 disembarkation fee at the upper station within town limits.
The town is asking the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority to contribute to its bottom line for the fire and police protection it offers there and add the fee to the Incline’s $15 ticket, said CARTA attorney Allen McCallie.
Mr. McCallie said Lookout Mountain wants to replace $58,000 in upper station ticket sales, which have plummeted now that customers park at the St. Elmo lot and buy tickets at the lower station or online.
But he said the Incline brings almost 500,000 people per year to Lookout Mountain who pay sales tax at the Incline gift shop and at surrounding attractions.
Instead of a dollar per passenger, Mr. McCallie proposed $0.15 to $0.19 to cover the $58,000.
The town is “scrambling” to recoup $800,000 per year, 25 percent of its budget, that was lost when the state Hall income tax was repealed in 2021, Mr. McCallie said. The town has incrementally raised property taxes to replace the funds, but CARTA is exempt from property taxes.
Mr. McCallie said that Lookout Mountain is already in the process of asking the state legislature to require the fee, should CARTA refuse to add it.
“I think that would be a terrible precedent,” Mr. McCallie said. He urged CARTA to engage the town in constructive conversation, though CARTA is not breaking any laws or rules.
“It’s wrong to say CARTA is not contributing to the bottom line of the town,” he said.
Lookout Mountain is no longer represented on the CARTA board of directors.