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“Estimating an annual payment on a 20 year note through a local bank at 7% would cost $622,993.00,� said Jones. “The estimated revenue from 25,600 vehicles on a 20 year note would require an additional $25.00 on the wheel tax. That would generate $640,00.00. The cents on property tax that would be needed is 8.6 and multiply that by 72,594 comes to $624,308.00. These are estimated figures and could go up or down with time. So, that is where you are at. There is no other way to fund this.�

Carter said, “I may be speaking out of line, but depending on the timeline of this, I have been told by the company that is working on the elementary school would be very interested in bidding this as well.�

Jones said, “Shawn, I know you had made the comment that you had $10 million on hand.�

Carter responded, “I hadn’t given an amount I just said that I had money to pay for one.�

Jones said, “I thought you said you had $17 million in reserve, that had $7 million committed and $10 million that you could use.�

Carter said, “That would be very close.�

Jones asked, “Could the school board consider putting any on that?�

Carter said, “That is a question that I cannot answer. That is a question that my board would have to answer.�

Jones said, “I will tell you all and I have told Shawn and the school board in a meeting this, the problem of this whole thing is that the people have lost trust in us. The school hasn’t been built yet and they voted 6 years ago, and it is just now happening. I think they will feel much better about it when the school is completed, and kids are attending there. This school isn’t going to be the end of it though, down the road you will be building another school with the growth we are seeing. You also have schools that are deteriorating. Newer buildings don’t hold up as well as the older ones.�

Carter said, “I think you would be interested if you run the interest rate numbers out at 5% for 40 years against 7% at 20 years. I think it will surprise you what the final cost would be.�

Jones said, “Raymond James is our financial advisor on these projects. I could get with him on that and run those numbers.�

Former Macon County Director of Schools Mike Prock said, “We have a $65 wheel tax, how much of that goes to road department?�

Jones replied, “None of the wheel tax money goes to the road department. 75% of the wheel tax goes into debt service and 25% goes to 101 General fund.�

Prock said, “I think when we started out back whenever 25 or 30 years ago and built the first high school, which is the junior high now, and correct me if I’m wrong, it was either $25 or $30 dollars they appropriated from wheel tax to build that school.

“When I came on as Director of schools in 2001 or 2002, I think you all raised it another $15 dollars for additions at the junior high and at Red Boiling Springs,� Prock said. “That put the wheel tax up somewhere in the neighborhood of $35 or $40 dollars. That’s why I don’t understand why you can’t take part of this money right here instead of talking about another increase in wheel tax to build this vocational school. That’s what our kids need, not everyone is going to going to go to college, you all know that as well as I do. They’ve been needing that vocational school for 20 years. The numbers have gone up out there at the high school, and I don’t know of anyone else besides Trousdale County that doesn’t have a vocational school on campus. I don’t understand why you can’t take $15 dollars of that wheel tax money. I am like Mr. Carter too. If you just take a calculator out instead of doing a 40-year note and do a 20-year note instead, I believe you’ll save money. You don’t have to go to Robert James or whoever you talked about and all of that. It’s ridiculous to even talk about 40 years. That’s all I got to say.�

A special called meeting with Macon County commissioners and the Macon County Board of Education is tentatively scheduled for some time in October.