Spread Holiday Cheer with Sea Salt

 Sea Salt is working to spread Holiday Cheer this season - here's an announcement about their efforts and how you can get involved:

With the Holidays right around the corner, Sea Salt wanted to give back to their new Hendersonville community by spreading Holiday Cheer. Sea Salt joined forces with 5 locally owned businesses to make a difference this Holiday Season by donating an amazing Christmas experience for 5 local Hendersonville families. 

“This year we wanted to do something unique, not only did we want to give back to the community that has welcomed us, but we wanted to include this great community as well.” Said Keith Zust the Co-Owner of Sea Salt.

That’s exactly what they did. Sea Salt bought 5 beautiful Christmas trees and asked some fellow locally owned businesses to help in decorating the

trees that will be delivered to 5 families in need on December 20^th. 

Sea Salt took it farther and made them Angel trees so that the entire community could come together to cultivate these kids ultimate Holiday experience, A perfectly decorated tree with gifts from Santa. 

Please show your support by voting for your favorite tree and bringing a gift for the children of the families in need. Voting for your favorite tree will take place from Dec 1-20^th and gifts will be accepted until December 19^th. A special thanks to the 5 amazing companies that volunteered to decorate a tree:



Massage the 615, Veterans IT Solutions, Gordon Cleaning Company, Tennessee Pro Solutions and Cycle Bar Hendersonville and Myers’ Front Porch.

                                             Photo by Tessa Rampersad on Unsplash

For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews

Sumner Democrats Host Candidate Training - December 4th

 From the SCDP:

Join us this Saturday, December 4th at 10 am at 333 W Main St. Suite F, Gallatin, TN to learn more about how local elections work and how to support your community as a candidate or volunteer to a campaign or the party.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews

Tennessee School Funding Lawsuit Delayed

 It seems that justice (and funding) for Tennessee’s public schools may have to wait until after the 2022 legislative session. A school funding lawsuit that had a February court date is now being pushed back so Gov. Bill Lee can unveil his new formula and districts can decide if a voucher-focused scheme will yield any positive monetary results for public schools.

The Tennessean reports:

A lingering lawsuit challenging how Tennessee funds public schools might be put on hold until after the upcoming legislative session, according to a motion filed earlier this month.

All parties to the lawsuit — the Memphis and Nashville school districts and the state — agreed to the joint motion to halt the case’s proceedings until the end of the legislative session next year.

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For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews

A Story on Tennessee's Financial Condition

 Governor Bill Lee and state lawmakers just used some of Tennessee’s largest ever budget surplus to fund a historically large incentive package for Ford Motor Company. Even after that deal, policymakers may still have at least $3 billion in unallocated funds to appropriate next year. This total includes a record-setting $2 billion for recurring items – and that’s before even speculating about routine revenue growth. For comparison, Tennessee’s total budget from state revenues this year was about $21 billion before the Ford deal passed.

Turns out, Tennessee continues to collect significantly more money than it plans to spend. Sycamore notes that through the first three months of the fiscal year:

• Actual collections for October 2021 were about 22% higher than budgeted.

• As of October 31, 2021, Tennessee had collected about 24% of the $16.5 billion in total budgeted revenue for the current fiscal year.

• Collections through October were about $902 million higher (or 24%) than what was budgeted for the time period.

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For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews

Sumner County Doubles Number of County Commission Districts

 The Portland Sun reports that the Sumner County Commission voted to double the number of County Commission districts from 12 to 24. That means each district will now have one commissioner instead of two and each commissioner will represent about half of the population currently represented. 

The Sumner County Commission voted 16 to 8 on Nov. 15 to double the number of county commission districts from 12 to 24. However, the total number of commissioners will remain the same, meaning each district will have one elected official instead of two.

It’s the first major change of the legislative body in more than 50 years.

The vote on Nov. 15 culminated the county’s redistricting process – a requirement of legislative bodies every 10 years following a federal census in order to make sure citizens receive equal political representation.

Sumner County’s population grew by about 20 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to recent U.S. Census data. At 196,281 residents, Sumner is the state’s eighth largest county.

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For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews

Tennessee Funding Board Shortchanges Schools, Infrastructure

 The Tennessee State Funding Board — the group responsible for setting the revenue projections used in state budgeting — met this week and got it wrong. Again. Like they do every single year.

Why does this even matter? Well, the Funding Board estimates are used to determine the parameters for the state budget. When the question is asked “why don’t we budget more for X,” the answer can be: The Funding Board says we won’t have that money.

Except, well, the Funding Board is wrong. ALL THE TIME.

Let’s look at the most recent evidence. This year, Tennessee is sitting on the largest budget surplus ever. EVER. That’s because state revenue came in at $2 billion ABOVE projections.

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For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews

Tennessee Reports Massive Revenue Surplus

 Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is seeking to reallocate the school funding pie in a state that historically earns low marks for its investment in schools. Now, the Sycamore Institute reports Tennessee has a significant surplus – both banked dollars and recurring money – that could be used to help address a range of priorities.

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For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews