06/30/2026
Last year we requested the Postal Service for a single ZIP code for Coopertown for reasons that included making sure we captured our local sales tax revenue as much as possible. The Postal Service in turn provided a solution utilizing technology to "fence" our town limits which reduced disruption and inconvenience by using our existing ZIP code structure (for example, Pleasant View 37146 became Coopertown 37146 in our boundary) without the need for a Post Office or a single ZIP code.
I have been tracking the local option sales tax (Coopertown's specific portion of local sales tax collected in our town limits) since the change went into effect in October of 2025.
The chart shows an increase during the short eight months so far of $85,861.09 or an 18.94% increase from the same time period a year ago. Coopertown has not added any new significant "brick and mortar" retail establishments during this time frame, and while I cannot fully confirm the growth is solely due to the ZIP code change alone (inflation would also impact the change to a limited extent during this time frame, for example), we can reasonably assume that the ZIP code change has had some impact so far in our sales tax collections, without any significant disruption or inconvenience and no cost to the town.
Most of the change has been automatic in our home deliveries as those are automatically changing and I am noticing that as citizens make changes to driver's license and new business licenses in town, these are now requiring Coopertown as the town of record rather than our neighboring town's postal office as in the past.
We have a great deal of work to do to improve our non-property tax revenue sources for funding our town operations and infrastructure demands as we have a tight budget to support a growing community and increased nonresident traffic with an aging road infrastructure, I hope to see this positive impact continue especially as we work to add long term commercial growth as well as additional online purchases are delivered to our ZIP code "fenced" town adding sales tax revenue.
While we have greater financial needs than this contribution alone so far provides, this sales tax revenue as it continues to grow will be very helpful to our growing budget needs.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!
This post is for informational purposes. If you would like to reach out with questions or comments, you can find contact information at www.coopertowntn.org
