Budget Committee Working Toward Zero Property Tax Increase If Wheel Tax Increase Stands
Budget season began in Jefferson County on Tuesday evening, March 31, 2015 when the Budget Committee convened at the Historic Jefferson County Courthouse for their first meeting. In light of the serious deficit that the committee is working with of $3.8 million dollars and the recent decision by the County Commission to increase the Wheel Tax to bring in around $1 million dollars, Budget Committee Chairman Scarlett suggested that the committee’s time might be served better to determine on the front end what, if any, property tax increase they felt comfortable with for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Discussion revolved around the commitment of the committee to make deep cuts to avoid any property tax increase and the ability, with a combination of deep cuts and wheel tax increase, to maintain the current property tax rate. The unanimous consensus of the committee was that they are willing to make the necessary cuts to the budget to avoid increasing property tax and feel that, with a combination of wheel tax increase and deep cuts, they can achieve a balanced budget. In an effort to make that desire an official , Committee Member Kesterson brought a Motion for a goal of zero property tax increase in the presentation of a balanced budget to County Commission. The Motion was 2nd by Commissioner David Seal and Passed Unanimously.
Jefferson County Mayor Palmieri brought recommendations for additional tax revenue outside of property tax, as well as suggesting discontinuing funding of all but three non profit organizations (Humane Society, Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, EDOC) and those taking serious cuts to their funding. Adequate Facilities Tax and Hotel/Motel Tax were also discussed with suggestions that included retiring one and increasing the other. Neither had successful motions, though they will both be topics of discussion later in the budgeting season.
The Capital Projects Budget was Approved 9-1 ( Musick No) in the amount of $475,859 with the bulk of those funds going to Workhouse HVAC System ( $301,500). Other items of interest on the Capital Projects List were Courthouse upstairs HVAC( $34,000), Courthouse sidewalk repair and tree removal ( $6,500) and Courthouse Cupola Repair and Paint ( $36,000), as well as Courthouse Snowguards ( $6,500). The Finance Office new roof($9,959), Finance Office New Server($16,900), UT Ag Extension Office HVAC ( $10,500), Health Department Downstairs Security System($17,500) EMS/911 Wainscoting/HR rail ($9,000) and Sanitation/Recycle Expansion($27,500) were also on the approved list. The Motion to Approve was made by Committee Member Turner and 2nd by Seal. No Capitol Projects were listed from the Department of Education due to a Motion by the County Commission earlier in the year that was a part of the Building 8 funding, which dedicated DOE Capitol Project funds to the County Debt Service Account until the contribution reaches the amount of funding for Building 8. In light of that motion, $ 222,542 will go into the Debt Service Fund. Revenue sources for Capital Projects include a $250,000 transfer from the Litigation Tax that can only be used for specific projects.
The Debt Service Operating Budget was also Approved (Tucker/Turner Motion and 2nd) with an adjustment, on the recommendation of Jefferson County Director of Finance Potts, to adjust the payment amount on the Davis Bacon Wage Act “loan” ( from Jefferson County to Jefferson County) from $525,000 to $94,000 for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, to free up some funds, though the fund remains seriously in the deficit.
