Resolution to target county debt

I've got a story set for Saturday that talks about a resolution co-sponsored by Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Knox County Commission Chairman Tony Norman.

You can find the resolution right smack here.

If approved, the county would have to to apply the proceeds from the sale of county surplus properties “to reducing the county taxpayers' debt,” which stood at $669 million when the current fiscal year began last July.

And yes, this does affect school property and - if passed - it will repeal a resolution the commission passed in April 2009 that lets the school system determine how to spend money the county gets from the sale of surplus school property. You can find that bad boy right smack here.

Not counting interest (which would put us all on the hook for about $1 billion), the county owes $669 million as of the end of the last fiscal year, which wrapped up June 30. By the end of the current fiscal year, the county will be on the hook for $645.8 million, according to finance numbers. (The county and school system will each chip in about $30 million but about half will go directly tote interest.)

Of that $645.8 million, the county will owe $388.7 million and the school system will owe $242.4 million. Still, it's all county taxpayer debt.

The commission will address the matter later this month.