The City of East Ridge has been fortunate in being one of three cities in the State of Tennessee to be approved for and receiving benefits from the state in regards to additional revenue from sales tax collected in the form our city receiving back 75 percent of the states portion of sales tax collected.

One of the main reasons that the State of Tennessee offered the Boarder Region Act, was to help cities that bordered on a state line to keep business in Tennessee.

It was observed recently, that a City of East Ridge police officer in uniform was purchasing gas for his police cruiser at the Mapco. This Mapco is located across the street from Lake Winnepesaukah, which is certainly in the State of Georgia.

East Ridge has a total of 16 service stations within the city limits.  Of those 16 stations, 14 of them are on Ringgold Road. So why are our city vehicles going across the state line to purchase fuel?  Most importantly, why is our City Manager allowing this to happen?

We as citizens do our best to keep revenue within our city by supporting the businesses in East Ridge and not going over the state line to Georgia.

I spoke with a city employee recently, and shared with him the above.  I asked him where the city purchased diesel fuel for its equipment.

He advised that the city had a tank with diesel.  He also stated that the city used to have a tank for gasoline but they do not use it.

My thought is, looks like to me that if the city put a gasoline tank back in place, then the city could buy gasoline in bulk, potentially saving money for the city and not have to pay the price at the pump like they are doing now.

_ Robert Gilreath, Candidate for East Ridge City Council