'Our legal team is still reviewing the decision, but the first indication is that this is a setback for educational funding in Bedford County. ' Bedford County outgoing Mayor Chad Graham”

The City of Shelbyville wins in the lawsuit against the County in TN Appellate Court. The local option sales tax will now go to the City of Shelbyville. This stems from a handshake type agreement made over 50 years ago.
An area judge decided this last year that the local option sales tax should go to the City. The County then appealed that decision at the state appellate court level.
Will the County go to a higher court now?
The court ruling is below:

City of Shelbyville v, Bedford County
M2025-00851-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Steven W. Maroney
Trial Court Judge: Senior Judge Don R. Ash
This appeal requires us to determine whether a contract—silent as to duration—was terminable at will or after a reasonable time, and whether the trial court properly set a termination date. In 1974, Appellant Bedford County and Appellee City of Shelbyville entered into a contract, under which Appellee agreed to pay Appellant a portion of its sales tax revenue. The purpose of the contract was to effectuate the building and maintenance of County schools as described in a separate “Building Program B,” which was completed in 1999. The parties’ contract contained no termination date, and the parties dispute whether certain requirements set out therein constitute conditions precedent to termination. After the City notified the County of its intent to terminate the contract, the City filed this declaratory judgment action. The trial court held that the requirements set out in the contract did not address termination. In the absence of a termination date or event, the trial court held that the contract was terminable within a reasonable time or at will upon reasonable notice. The trial court set the termination date as July 1, 2027. The County appeals. Discerning no error, we affirm.

County Mayor Chad Graham has issued the following statement following an appeals court ruling on the lawsuit governing the division of sales taxes between Shelbyville and Bedford County:

“Our legal team is still reviewing the decision, but the first indication is that this is a setback for educational funding in Bedford County. It will be up to the new county mayor and the new Board of Commissioners, who take office on Sept. 1, to decide whether or not to appeal the decision further.

“Under the current system, which the city agreed to decades ago, the disputed sales tax revenues must be spent on debt for school buildings. That’s a dedicated fund, and that’s the only thing the county can use that money for. For the city, if this decision stands, those will be unrestricted funds which the city will be able to use for any purpose.

“Meanwhile, the county must continue to educate children, including the children from within Shelbyville. I was a school board member before becoming your county mayor, and our county school system has been a top priority for me both in that role and since I became mayor. The loss of that funding, about $2 million per year, will dramatically impact our ability to operate the school system. Our continued population growth, and the aging of our older school buildings, means we can’t simply get out of the business of building schools.”