Ronnie Rochelle, candidate for Knox County commissioner, calls for restricted road fund and bond restructuring

Ronnie Rochelle, a candidate for Knox County commissioner seat 10 at-large, said on the campaign trail that the county faces two primary problems: “Our debt and our roads.” He told listeners the county has an 88-year backlog for road repairs and urged voters to support his plan to protect road funding.

Rochelle said the backlog exists in part because the county has, in his words, routinely diverted road money to cover other priorities. “The money will stay in the road fund,” he said, proposing a restricted road fund that would legally preserve allocations for maintenance and prevent what he described as political diversions.

Why it matters: Roads and long-term debt determine how county taxes are spent and when infrastructure work gets done, issues that directly affect residents’ daily travel and the county budget. Rochelle framed his platform around reversing fiscal choices he described as short-term fixes that shift burdens onto future generations.

Rochelle also criticized the county’s current debt structure, saying some obligations came from interest-only, variable-rate bonds that are now coming due. He urged officials to “restructure it so we have an even flow through all the upcoming years,” saying that without restructuring the county will continue to borrow or raid reserves to meet payments.

On property taxes, Rochelle said the county has not raised property taxes in 26 years and characterized roughly $500 million in county debt as “totally unnecessary.” He also asserted that “25% of our property tax dollars goes for debt service.” Those figures were presented as claims in his speech; he did not cite supporting documents during the remarks.

Rochelle cast a direct choice for voters: adopt his proposals to preserve road funds and restructure debt, or accept “more debt, poor roads,” and passing the cost to future generations. He closed by asking for voters’ support in the commissioner race.

The speech consisted of a campaign presentation and did not include a formal plan text, ordinance language, or a cited financial analysis; specifics such as the legal mechanism for a restricted road fund and the technical terms of any bond restructuring were not provided in the remarks.