2011.4.14 Budget Committee Meeting

Last Thursday, the RCC Budget Committee re-convened after their meeting of Thursday, April 7, 2011. The April 7, 2011 meeting was continued.

A tentative 2011 Budget was introduced at the previous meeting. The tentative budget sparked a heated discussion by those Robertson County Government Department Heads that were in attendance. This discussion was due to the proposed cuts and a deviation from the “old process.”

Now, as of this second meeting, the “old process” will be implemented. Under the “old process,” Department Heads personally meet with the Robertson County Finance Director Jody Stewart wherein they will generate their proposed budget. After doing so, their budget will be submitted to the Budget Committee for consideration. This apparently was part of what sparked the heated discussion, because this proposal was a deviation from the “old process.” Candidly, I am not a proponent of the “old process” for there is little, if any, proactive participation by the commission in the formation of respective budgets.

Regardless of the process, it is going to be a difficult year.

County-by-County: Comparing the Property Tax Rates

Many of you have asked me just what the tax rates are for our surrounding counties.

Of course, this question was sparked by the recent story in the Robertson County Times discussing the possible property tax increase.

The numbers I pulled below are the “base” property tax rates. I say “base” because they do not represent the entire tax rate. Municipalities within the respective counties have additional taxes on top of the respective county taxes. Some counties, such as Cheatam County have additional taxes for fire districts. I have not included those for comparison since it is hard to compare based on those separate taxes.

If you would like to investigate further, please follow this link to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury – Division of Property Assessment. A link can be found here: 2010 PROPERTY TAX RATES:

County                      Property Tax Rate

North Middle Tennessee

Cheatam County              $              2.78                       

Sumner                               $             2.02.08 

Robertson                           $              2.61

Dickson                                $              2.85

Montgomery                     $              2.88

Trousdale                            $              3.00

Wilson                                 $              2.4327

Middle/Southern Middle Tennessee

Davidson                             $              3.56

Rutherford                         $              2.4652

Maury                                   $              2.59

Williamson                        $              2.26

Marshall                              $              3.09

Bedford                               $              2.27

Meigs County: 10 Commandments

A bold endeavor by Meigs County.

Interesting, considering what the Robertson County Commission voted on just a few short weeks ago.

Yet, it is also interesting since this is reported on by the Chattanooga Times Free Press – Hamilton County - Note the shaded blue box attached to the story.

County Government Day

I just wanted to pass along a note on ‘County Government Day’ in the General Assembly. Here is a little information for those interested (from the TCSA):

An estimated 500 delegates have already registered to attend this year’s COAT-TCSA County Government Day on April 19-20 at the Nashville Sheraton Downtown.

The annual meeting provides members of both the County Officials Association of Tennessee (COAT) and the Tennessee County Services Association (TCSA) and their affiliate organizations an opportunity to gather to hear from legislators and others about pending legislation affecting county governments statewide. With board and membership meetings for all the associations and their partner organizations, County Government Day will include a breakfast to honor members of the 107th General Assembly as well as a training opportunity on the pressing issue of business/industrial retention and expansion. Tuesday, April 19, is primarily a day for board and membership meetings. In the evening, no conference events are planned. However, delegates are urged to contact their senators and representatives to set up meetings. A tentative agenda is on Page 8 of this issue of Tennessee County News. Then on Wednesday, April 20, the day kicks off with an annual breakfast honoring members of the legislature. Keynote speakers, invited to the conference, include Gov. Bill Haslam, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell.

The University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service will deliver a two-hour workshop entitled “Business Retention and Expansion” from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Attendees, who must be registered delegates to the COAT-TCSA conference, will receive two hours of credit through the County Officials Certificate Training Program. Those county officials wanting to attend the conference should register through the two-step process.

March: State Tax Revenues

A report on March state tax revenues.

Encouraging for Tennessee’s economy:

NASHVILLE - Tennessee revenue collections for March continued to exceed the budgeted expectations. Finance and Administration Commissioner Mark Emkes today announced that overall March revenues were $815.5 million, which is $9.5 million more than the state budgeted. It marks the eighth consecutive positive growth month for this fiscal year.

This is “encouraging” for what it means for our state economy.

What does $.74 actually mean?

I am sure that many of you saw this story in the Robertson County Times (RCT) this past week.

 This is sobering.

Robertson County taxpayers could be looking at $9,278,000, or a 74-cent increase in property taxes to balance the 2011/2012 county budget. This reality was absorbed by the county budget committee at its meeting last week as members met to begin considering a workable budget for the coming fiscal year.

Their task must take into consideration the debt service needs of schools, highways and the general fund, which total more than $17 million altogether.

Broken down, county schools have the highest proportion of debt, with $12.1 million required to pay for recent school construction. The recently completed county jail’s cost is reflected in the $4.1 million general fund debt, and county highways require servicing a debt of $807,100.

In all, committee members have little option but to require the revenue increase from taxpayers, or find ways, with the help of county department heads, to pare back on operational and equipment expenses in order to alleviate the 74-cent sticker-shock.

This is the portion that I would like to highlight. Many times you here those close to county government articulate this in “government-speak” what the number of “pennies” actually means. Of course, it is an easy way to speak of the issue from commissioner-to-commissioner; yet, many folks do not know what the bottom line means for them. This story breaks that down for those outside of government.

According to Robertson County Finance Director Jody Stewart, that 74 cents translates into an approximate $185 tax increase for an average $100,000 home, or a 28 percent increase. The current tax for Robertson County rate is $2.61 per $100 of assessed value. If increased by 74 cents, the Robertson County taxpayers would be paying $3.35 per $100.

In the coming weeks, I hope to illustrate to you a county-by-county analysis of property tax rates to dispel some rumors.

Committee members will convene again this week, as they will for the next several months, as they grapple with the combined realities of climbing expenses versus revenue in their task of crafting a workable budget to present to the full commission.

Comptroller's Report: Stolen County Money

Here is a disturbing report from Tom Humphrey from his Knoxville News blog.

More than $700,000 of taxpayer money was stolen from county governments across Tennessee during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010.

The Week of April 18, 2011

Also, do not forget that the Robertson County Commission agenda can be found here at the Robertson County website.

MEETINGS SCHEDULED WEEK OF:

April 18 - 22, 2011

Date & Committee/Board           Time                    Location

Monday - April 18

Animal Control                                   6:00 P.M.                    Juvenile Courtroom

Building and Grounds                          6:30 P.M.                    Juvenile Courtroom

Nominating                                         6:30 P.M.                    Juvenile Courtroom

County Commission                            7:00 P.M.                    Juvenile Courtroom                                                                                                    

Tuesday - April 19

911 Board                                           9:00 A.M.                    ECC Building

Health and Safety Board                      5:30 P.M.                     Finance Office

Wednesday - April 20

RTA                                                    10:00 A.M.                  400 Charlotte, Nashville

GNRC                                                 11:00 A.M.                  400 Charlotte, Nashville

Thursday - April 21

Open

           

Friday - April 22

HOLIDAY: Good Friday

Robertson County Schools: "Table of Contents"

In this post, I just wanted to give reference to all of the “Robertson County Schools” posts I have put together or come across in the past couple of weeks.

I thought this may be helpful to folks if you would like to forward this along to those who would like to take part in this discussion, and to see all of the discussion this topic has generated in the past several weeks.

           Robertson County Schools: By the Numbers – This is the post that kicked off much of the discussion. It delves into the number of “economically disadvantaged” children per school.

Robertson County Schools: By the Numbers: UPDATED – This is really a follow-up post to the original, but here I hope to illustrate the correlations between the economically disadvantaged, and the actual school’s grades.  

            UPDATED – Robertson County Schools: By the Numbers – Q&A – In this post, I have tried to answer each and every comment/question as they have come up via e-mail and/or comment.

        
 Joint Meeting: Robertson County Board of Education & Springfield Board of Mayor & Aldermen – April 12^th -   The details of the letter sent from the City of Springfield.

           Robertson County Times – “Springfield Demands Better Schools”

           Robertson County Schools: My Interview with NewsChannel5 – This piece covers the discussion as it unfolded.

I look forward to the continued discussion on this topic.

Thank all of you for your feedback and support these past two weeks! The support has been humbling, and the feedback has been wonderful.

The Week of April 11, 2011

Also, do not forget the Joint Meeting between the School Board and the City of Springfield. That meeting will be at Springfield City Hall on Tuesday evening. (for more information, see my post here)

Though not noted, I believe that the Budget Committee meeting has been continued to this Thursday. If that is so, these meetings are customarily at 5:00pm.

MEETINGS SCHEDULED WEEK OF:

April 11 - 15, 2011

Date & Committee/Board                 Time                            Location

Monday – April 11

EMS                                                     5:00 P.M.                    EMS Building

Education                                            6:00 P.M.                    Central Office

School Board                                       7:00 P.M.                    Central Office                                                          

Tuesday - April 12

Airport                                                 8:00 A.M.                   Airport

Law Enforcement/Workhouse           5:00 P.M.                    Jail

Personnel                                            5:00 P.M.                   Finance Office

Solid Waste                                         6:00 P.M.                   County Office Building

Wednesday - April 13

Open

Thursday - April 14

Open         

Friday - April 15

Open