NEWPORT-Citizens who find themselves in civil or criminal court will now have to pay a little extra as the Cocke County Legislative Body (CLB) approved a $40 increase in the county's litigation tax at its monthly meeting on Monday.

Finance Committee Chairman Norman Smith made the motion and said the county only charges a $10 litigation tax on each case in general sessions and criminal courts and the revenues from the increase from $10 to $50 could be used to renovate the current jail or be accumulated to help fund the building of a new jail and/or justice center.

During the finance committee meeting earlier this month, Cocke County Finance Director Anne Williams stated the litigation tax currently brings in about $50,000 per year, but by increasing the fee to $50, it would bring in an estimated $250,000 per year.

Cocke County Attorney Fletcher Ervin said the CLB didn't represent people who come to court and he does, so he wanted to address the CLB concerning this issue.

"These fees are becoming a serious burden on people who have to come to court," said Ervin. "The price of a divorce is about $240 and with the increase it will put it near $300. This is a tax on the taxpayers just as much as if it were an increase in real estate taxes."

Ervin said the increase would cause an additional problem for the citizens of this county who have to go to court.

The response of the CLB was to pass the litigation tax by an 11 to 2 vote with commissioners, Calvin Ball and David Taylor, being the only two 'no' votes.

Commissioners present were Smith, Ball, Taylor, Phil Killion, Lonnie Ottinger, Clay Blazer, Andrew Fowler, Jr., Scott McClure, Tom Sutton, Bill Williamson, Bill Costner, Henry 'Skip' Gregory, and Jimmy Lindsey. Love Henderson was unable to attend because of school.

In other business, the CLB elected its 2008-09 chairman, who is Commissioner Phil Killion, and its vice-chairman, who is Commissioner Norman Smith.

Killion won the chairmanship by an 8 to 5 vote over Smith with Ottinger, McClure, Sutton, Williamson, Taylor, Gregory, Killion, and Lindsey voting for Killion._ Lindsey was the deciding vote as he had passed, but since neither could be elected without his vote, Lindsey decided to cast his vote for Killion.

Lindsey did say he didn't like voting against any of his fellow commissioners and thought that the chairmanship should be rotated, but would vote for Killion in order for the CLB to have its chairman.

Killion said he wanted to thank the commissioners who voted for him.

"I have appreciated the opportunity to serve and I appreciate the opportunity to do it again," said Killion.

The CLB also approved its committees for 2008-09 and they are as follows:

*Budget Committee-Henderson, Blazer, Smith, McClure, Williamson, Taylor, and Gregory.

*Public Safety-Henderson, Ottinger, Fowler, Killion, Sutton, Taylor, and Lindsey._*General-Ball, Blazer, Smith, McClure, Sutton, Costner, and Gregory.

*Landfill-Ball, Ottinger, Fowler, Killion, Williamson, Costner, and Gregory.

*Beer Board-Jimmy Wright, Thad Balch, Bobby Lovell, L.D. Ottinger, Karen Nelson, P.A. Clark, and Nile Woodson.

Williamson, who was representing the landfill committee, made the motion to approve the purchase of two garbage compactors from TidiWaste to be installed at the Del Rio and Cosby convenience centers at a cost of $2,190, which was unanimously approved by the CLB.

Killion informed the commissioners that there would be a public safety committee meeting on Thursday, Sept. 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the courthouse.

The CLB unanimously approved Norman Smith to complete the unexpired term of Terry Finchum, who recently resigned from the Cocke County Emergency Management 911 Board of Directors, and also reappointed Dr. Patti Ketterman to the board with her term to expire in 2012.

The CLB approved the county official bonds for Cocke County Director of Schools, Property Assessor, Clerk and Master, and constables.

The CLB sent the following changes to the county's road system as recommended by the Cocke County Highway Commission back to the highway commission for further consideration including Siesta Way (.22 miles) to be renamed Siesta Drive; Cozy Way (.35 miles) to be renamed Cozy Road; Easy Going Way (.12 miles) to be renamed Easy Going Lane; Neighborly Way (.12 miles) to be renamed Neighborly Trail; Lazy Way (.18 miles) to be renamed Lazy Drive; and extending an existing county road, Fisher Vin Road, in the Fifth District by .25 miles for a new total length of 3.5 miles.

Allied Emergency Medical Services Owner Butch Jarnigan presented Allied's monthly report to the CLB, which stated Allied responded to 450 calls in the county with an average response time of 13 minutes.

Keep Cocke County Beautiful (KCCB) Executive Director Elizabeth Reed presented KCCB's monthly report and said the mixed paper recycling collection program at the school system that was approved by the CLB last year is a success.

"We collected 130 tons of paper at the schools to be recycled," said Reed. "In doing this, we were able to return $2,000 to the schools. The funds were divided and dispersed according to the amount that each school collected."

 "We have also applied for a $25,000 grant for more containers," continued Reed. "I want to publicly thank Goodwill Industries for its efforts in helping to promote recycling in Cocke County and for providing the matching funds for this grant, so there will be no cost to the county. Goodwill Industries has been a great partner for us."

Reed also said the benefits of recycling through KCCB in the county saved the taxpayers $726,517 last year.

Dr. Carol Hood, who is a representative of the Newport Animal Shelter, presented the shelter's report.

"We have received a record number of animals the past two months," said Hood. "We were able to send 117 of these animals to no kill shelters. However, our save rate was 36 percent."

Hood said sending animals to other shelters is just a band aid.

"The real problem is over- population," said Hood. "The shelter will start spaying and neutering its animals on October 1."

Hood also said that Remote Area Medical was going to provide a spaying and neutering clinic at Sunset Gap on December 6 and 7 for low-income families and more information would be made available on that in the near future.

Hood also requested for a member of the CLB to participate on the shelter's committee concerning over-population of animals in the county and what could be done to find a solution to this problem, but the CLB took no action on this request.

Hood said the shelter's committee meets on the second Wednesday of each month at noon at the City Hall.

The CLB approved the following notaries and sureties including Shannon Gregg Samples-renewal-sureties-Conard Smith and Charles W. Gregg, Pamela Ann Marshall-renewal-corporate, John Thomas Wehrhahn-new-corporate, and Burch Wood-renewal-sureties-Don Meredith and John Knis.

The CLB will hold its next scheduled meeting on Monday, October 20 at 6 p.m.