What the plan actually says

Extracted from the county's own adopted map

Since 2000 the cities have annexed 8.1 square miles, and 95.5% of it fell inside boundaries everyone had already agreed to — growth largely went where the plan said it would. And there are still 52 square miles inside those boundaries that have never been annexed. The room to grow is already there. The question is what it costs to serve it, and that is a conversation to have with the cities rather than at them.

Every figure comes out of the county's own adopted map and the State Comptroller's certified tax tables. The extraction is reproducible and the underlying data is published, so anyone can check the arithmetic — full transparency.

Download it: growth plan · annexations since 2000 · worklist (CSV)  —  GeoJSON in WGS84, opens in QGIS, ArcGIS or Google Earth.

Read the Framework For the County Commission → For Lenoir City →

FY2026 Year-End: Stronger Than Planned

August 18, 2026

At Monday's commission workshop the finance office distributed the unaudited year-end fund summary for FY2026 — County General Fund 101 and the General Purpose School Fund 141. The short version: the county closed the year in better shape than the budget assumed. Revenue came in $2.5 million over budget, departments held $1.8 million under their ceilings, and a fund balance the budget had cautiously planned to draw down by $2.1 million grew by $2.1 million instead. The school fund posted the same pattern, up $1.4 million. That's what conservative budgeting and a strong local economy look like when they land at the same time.

After the election I said the budget work on this site would stay a frozen snapshot, and that when new numbers came out I would build the next one alongside it so you could set them side by side and see what actually moved. This is that. The audit-baseline simulator hasn't changed by a single digit — and its caveat that budgeted fund-balance draws historically don't materialize just got its clearest test yet. The new page puts every figure from the workshop handout beside the budget and the simulator's baseline: where the revenue gain came from (60% of it is local option and statutory taxes), which departments left money unspent, the one real shortfall (state funding to the schools came in $562K short), and what it does — and doesn't — mean for FY2027.

These are unaudited numbers on a budgetary basis, and the gain is concentrated in the kind of revenue that tracks the economy. Read the caveats before anybody spends it on paper.

Read the Findings → The Frozen Snapshot →

Twenty-Five Years

August 11, 2026

4 photos · click to view

Twenty-five years ago today, Terra and I got married. Nothing on this website — the maps, the late nights with a spreadsheet, the walking of District 2 in July — happened without her either beside me or covering for me while I did it.

She did not run for anything. She has spent a year married to somebody who did, which is the harder job of the two.

We marked it back in June, while she was out for the summer, with a few days in Washington, D.C. We did what you do there — walked past the White House, walked the Mall, stood a while at the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Somebody had left a wreath from the 101st Airborne Division Association. My grandfather, Ralph Eugene Cotham, served with the 101st, so I stopped and took a picture of it.

Happy anniversary, Terra. I love you!

Thank You, District 2

August 6, 2026

District 2 has elected me to Seat A on the Loudon County Commission. Thank you — for the vote, for the conversations at the door and in the store, and for caring enough about this county to show up on a hot Thursday in August.

I am not going to spend this page on numbers. Van Shaver has the full countywide results, race by race, and his site is where this county has gotten its information for years. What I will say is this: I asked for the job, you gave it to me, and now I owe you the work.

What happens next

I said during the campaign that I would show you the math rather than ask you to take my word for it. That does not change now that the yard signs are coming down.

The budget work on this site is a snapshot — the county's finances as they stood at that audit, and that is exactly what it will stay. I would rather leave it standing as a record than quietly edit it later. As new numbers come out, I will build the next one alongside it, so you can set them side by side and see what actually moved and what didn't.

Commission votes are recorded in the public minutes, so I am not going to promise a running commentary on every one. What I will do is write about the things worth understanding before they are decided — what is on the agenda, what it costs, and what question I think ought to be asked in the room.

If something in the county is on your mind, tell me. My door, my phone, and my inbox are the same as they were last week.

Countywide Results →

Endorsed by Jimmy Matlock

August 2026

I’m grateful for the endorsement of Jimmy Matlock, who represented District 21 in the Tennessee House from 2007 to 2019 and is now running for State Senate. Born in Loudon, Jimmy built Matlock Tire Service from his father’s single station into a multi-location business across East Tennessee. He has also served three separate terms as Chairman of the Loudon County Republican Party. He knows this county’s people and its problems as well as anyone.

An endorsement from someone who has actually done the work—in business, in the legislature, and in this community—means a great deal to me.

Jimmy Matlock for State Senate →

July 2026

Four earlier posts

The growth framework, the Tennessee Voter Guide rating, where I stand on data centers, and the county budget tools.

Read July 2026 →