Tom Beehan
Jane Miller
After a week of spirited public debate, the Oak Ridge City Council re-elected Tom Beehan to a third term as mayor in a 4-3 vote on Monday.
He narrowly beat Oak Ridge City Council member David Mosby, who announced his candidacy this past weekend.
Council also re-elected Jane Miller to a third term as vice mayor—or mayor pro tem—on Monday. She received four votes, and Mosby, who hadn’t sought the position, received three.
The close vote Monday followed a week of public debate that included dozens of online comments and letters to the editor that were triggered by new City Council member Trina Baughn’s call for Beehan to drop his mayoral bid and even consider resigning from council.
Beehan voted for himself for mayor. Miller also voted for him and so did City Council members Charlie Hensley and Chuck Hope.
Voting for Mosby were Mosby, Baughn, and City Council member Anne Garcia Garland.
During Monday night’s standing-room-only meeting, Baughn, who has also requested records of Beehan’s travel expenses for the past five years, said she doesn’t have a personal vendetta against the mayor.
“We’re in a steady state of decline,” said Baughn, citing increases in city spending and debt. “Mr. Beehan has had a decade to lead us toward prosperity, and that has not happened.”
But other council members said the debt was largely due to the schools, and they pointed out that Oak Ridge residents voted overwhelmingly for one significant piece of that debt, the renovation of the Oak Ridge High School.
“It is not due to council or one person on council,” Miller said.
Beehan’s supporters, and Beehan himself, said the city has reached a “tipping point.” They cited recent developments generally viewed as positive, including the $30 million Kroger Marketplace shopping center at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, and the proposed $6.5 billion Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex. They also pointed out that it’s been several years since Oak Ridge has had a property tax rate increase.
“I think we’ve really turned the corner,” Hensley said. “I don’t think we need any significant changes.”
Pat Postma, one community leader who spoke in favor of re-electing Beehan, said Baughn’s recent column, posted on her website and submitted to local media, “took my breath away.” In the column, Baughn alleged the mayor had publicly encouraged “backroom meetings” on the high school debt and will benefit from the proposed Kroger shopping center, among other things.
“The tone seemed not just misinformed, but malicious,” Postma said.
Still, public comments during Monday night’s 45-minute election were evenly split between those supporting Beehan and those supporting Mosby.
Interviewed Monday afternoon, Mosby said his decision to seek the mayor’s position had nothing to do with the feud between Baughn and Beehan.
“I have always wanted to participate in a leadership role on council,” Mosby said.
Those who supported him Monday night said it was time for new leadership.
“I think we need some change, some fresh blood,” resident Don Carson said.
Mosby has previously sought to become mayor pro tem and has received votes for mayor in previous City Council elections. In Oak Ridge, the mayor and mayor pro tem are elected by the seven-member City Council after each municipal election.
Mosby and Beehan have both been council members since 2001. Miller has been a City Council member since 2003.
Miller voted for herself as mayor pro tem. Beehan, Hensley, and Hope also voted for her.
Baughn, Garcia Garland, and Mosby voted for Mosby for mayor pro tem.
Also interviewed Monday afternoon, Hope, who seemed to provide the swing vote during Monday’s City Council meeting, said some residents have asked him to consider running for mayor or mayor pro tem.
Hope said he could serve if the time or circumstances were right, but he said it was still “a tad early for me.” Hope was appointed to council last summer after former member Tom Hayes resigned. He won a special election in August and was elected to his first regular four-year term on Nov. 6.
Hope said he had probably had more than 200 phone calls, e-mails, and conversations with residents who wanted to share their opinions or concerns regarding the election between Beehan and Mosby.
“We have a lot of momentum going right now,” Hope said. “The last thing we need is a divided city. We need to make sure we have a unified council.”
Jacob Kilpatrick says
Congratulations, Mayor Beehan. Ax grinding is great for reality television, but doesn’t have much of a place in local government. Oak Ridge in the last five years has started bouncing back in an exciting way, and I’m proud to call it my home.
My property value has remained relatively high compared to other locations in the region, I’ve got a wealth of new places here in town to spend my money, and the city is not taxing a disproportionate amount of said money compared to local regions.
I feel that the leadership of city council has a lot to do with that. I feel that Tom Beehan has a lot to do with that.
Well done, Oak Ridge.
Andrew Howe says
We definitely shouldn’t raise property taxes again. Check out the comparison between towns/counties here:
http://www.comptroller.tn.gov/pa/LR.asp?W=12
According to that data, we pay the 2nd most of any town in the state for our city taxes. I think should suffice! Here’s what Ellen Smith had to say about these sort of lists (since there may be a bit of apples to oranges going on):
http://ellensmith.org/blog/2008/01/16/comparing-property-tax-rates/
My research also has indicated that much of our debt is due to the new school. I think there may be lingering debt related to the golf course off Melton Lake, but Mark Watson claims that project is actually in the black again (if I heard him correclty).
We’ve got the water works bill to pay now, too. That one’s something of a thorn to me, simply because I use VERY little water yet monthly I have to pay around $30 now for about the minimum usage. I’m getting close to thinking I could save money filling a tank and running a pump!
We are a bit costly in that regard: http://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/tennessee/oak_ridge
Ellen Smith says
I was interested to see your link to the current property tax data. I had completely forgotten that blog post of mine that you linked to. As I said there, comparing tax rates in municipalities that supply a lot of city services
with rates in municipalities that leave these services to the county
is like comparing the cost
of a full-course meal at one restaurant with the price of the main
course (or even just the appetizer) at another eatery. That’s why I compared the combined city and county taxes for different cities, instead of focusing only on city taxes.
Skimming the list you linked to, it looks like several more Tennessee cities now have combined city and county tax rates higher than Oak Ridge’s. Maybe I’ll take the time to sort the values in the table and make a new list.
As you note, Oak Ridge’s tax-supported debt service is mostly due to school construction and renovation projects, not just the high school. Other pieces pay for the Scarboro Center expansion, new playgrounds, and other projects.
Taxpayers also are still paying about half a million a year in debt service to pay off the initial construction of the golf course. It’s true that the golf course operations are in the black (meaning that the annual revenue from golf operations exceeds the annual cost of those operations, including the cost of big maintenance projects like rebuilding the bunkers), but golf revenues don’t contribute to paying off the debt service for building the golf course.
A big component of the city’s oft-quoted $170M to $180M in debt is related to construction, improvement, and capital maintenance of the electrical, water, and wastewater systems. That borrowing is paid for our of our utility rates, not our taxes.
As for utilities, our rates have gone up, but I don’t trust the bestplaces analysis that says our utility costs are above the national average. I can point to plenty of places that pay a lot more than we do for heat, power, water, and wastewater, due to either or both higher rates or worse weather. The website doesn’t say how they did their calculations. However, considering that the same website ranks Knoxville as among the metro areas with the highest drought risk — http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/drought_list.aspx — and ranks places in Texas as Oklahoma as having the lowest drought risk, I’m not inclined to trust everything they say!
Angi Agle says
The key phrase there is “for city taxes.” Of course, no one can only pay City taxes; the combined rate is what matters, and we’re about 20th, I think. Behind a lot of places that offer less than Oak Ridge does.
Ellen Smith says
You hit the nail on the head, Angi. We (that is, Anderson County Oak Ridge) are exactly 20th in combined rates.
I posted the ranked list of places with rates higher than (or essentially the same) as ours at http://ellensmith.org/blog/2012/12/12/revisiting-the-property-tax-rate-comparison/
Myron Iwanski says
Good points. Another issue to consider when comparing combined city/county taxes is wheel tax. About 1/2 of Tennessee’s counties have a wheel tax averaging about $40. Fortunately Anderson county does not have a wheel tax. A $40 wheel tax would generate over $3 million per year in Anderson County. It would take a 20 cent property tax increase to raise that much revenue in Anderson County. So when comparing tax rates you should add about 20 cents to the tax rate for cities in counties with a wheel tax – putting Oak Ridge’s effective tax rate lower among Tennessee full service cities.
Sam Hopwood says
Tax debate aside, did not you throw up a trial balloon on a wheel tax for Anderson county when you were County Mayor? Thank goodness it was quickly shot down.
The real problem in OR is the dropping school enrollment. If people with children will not move to OR we are in a heap of trouble. ORHS recently dropped their sports program from 6A to 5A due to the dropping enrollment.
What is the answer, if there is one?
Myron Iwanski says
A couple of county commissioners suggested a wheel tax. I provided information on how much revenue a wheel tax would generate. I and most commissioners and most public comments were against the wheel tax and it was not approved.
Sam Hopwood says
Thanks. I stand corrected on that.
Ck Kelsey says
He was for using it until he got what he wanted ,higher property tax. i told them they should sell some of the 30 plus properties the county owns instead of raising taxes on the citizens.It would bring in revenue on property that is payin O taxes. That was common sense and fell on Biloski,and Myron’s deaf ears. Spenders never want to hear alternatives. Crooks!
Ck Kelsey says
It was a strawman they used to get a higher property tax Sam. Another scam by a local government official.Thanks for pointing it out to Myron though.he’s so much smarter than the common folk.
John Huotari says
Good point about adding the wheel tax when comparing tax rates. I don’t think that gets mentioned very often.
Ck Kelsey says
Why didn’t Myron and Biloski consider the proposal to sell properties instead of raising Taxes? It worked for Knox county.