Education dominates talk at Fort Payne Tax Forum

Education dominates talk at Fort Payne Tax Forum

By Joseph Morgan

joseph@southerntorch.com

FORT PAYNE, Ala.— The City of Fort Payne hosted a public forum Tuesday night to discuss potential tax increases and other possible sources of revenue for the city. Since the city announced the forum about a month ago the focus and conversation surrounding it has changed considerably.

Following discussion regarding the possibility of a one cent sales tax increase during a city council meeting earlier this year, the DeKalb County Economic Development Authority and Fort Payne City Schools both quickly expressed their need and interest in utilizing these new revenues. In the following weeks representatives from both organizations made formal requests before the council for a portion of any new tax dollars if such an ordinance were to become reality.

Fort Payne Mayor Larry Chesser estimated that approximately 250-300 citizens were in attendance at Tuesday night’s forum. Many present were employees or staunch supporters of the Fort Payne City School System. The presence of such a strong crowd of educators resulted in discussion that primarily focused on finding funding for Fort Payne City Schools.

“I appreciated so many education supporters attended,” Fort Payne City Schools Superintendent Jimmy Cunningham said. “But I also appreciate Mayor Chesser and the council for being willing to have an open discussion, for caring enough about our city to allow the public to weigh in.”

The council and mayor answered questions from a moderator that were submitted prior to the forum. The mayor and council expressed their support for Fort Payne Schools, but when pressed by questions from the audience did not provide a specific plan.

Chesser said that between the time that the city announced the forum and the forum actually taking place, it became apparent that a tax increase would not pass.

“We decided to go ahead and host the forum even though the votes weren’t there,” Chesser said. “We felt like it was the right thing to do, and we genuinely wanted to hear from the public. We never dreamed there would be such a large turnout.”

Chesser said despite the death of the sales tax increase proposal, he and the council would be working in the days and weeks to come to try to find additional funding for Fort Payne City Schools.