County Commission Passes 2018-2019 Budget

Thursday night, the Jefferson County Commission gave the proposed budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year a once over, deliberated over amendments, and successfully passed it, just in time for the new fiscal year.

After facing the shortfall of over $800,000 dollars, and providing a way of correcting the deficit, the commissioners went through and approved all amendments to the initial county budget.  With the vote, the citizens of Jefferson County will not face a tax increase for the 2018-2019 year.

The commissioners also heard from county mayor Alan Palmieri about retaining Richard Talley to continue work on the opoiod crisis on the federal level.  “It won’t fix all the problems it has caused, but it certainly will be a healthy start”, stated Talley as he addressed the board.  The motion to do so was made by Seals, Second by Kesterson, and the motion was passed 11-3 with McGraw abstaining from the vote.

There were several other new on the agenda, including a new collection agreement for the Jefferson County Trustee to begin collecting New Market’s recently passed city tax.  John McGraw asked the commission to reconsider Resolution 2016-4, which was a resolution to levy a mineral severance tax on all sand, grave, sandstone, chert and limestone severed from the ground in Jefferson County.  The commission voted 9-7 to revisit the issue in the July work session.

The Public Service Committee brought forth a resolution adopting regulations governing outdoor music festivals and special events in the county.  One of the main agendas in the resolution was to move the noise cutoff from midnight to 10:00 p.m.  Accompanying the cutoff, violations would render a $50 fine and the risk of not being able to host any functions in the future.  The Resolution passed 11-5.

Finally in new business, David Seal brought forth a resolution requesting that Jefferson County be designated as a broadband ready community by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and and appointment of the Jefferson County Director of Information Technology and Communications as the single point of contact for broadband projects.  The resolution was passed unanimously.

Even though the budget has passed, there is no rest for the Jefferson County Commission.  They will be meeting for a work session Monday July 16, with the regular voting session taking place Monday July 23.