June 21, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
How will they vote?
Four days before the big vote on perhaps what would be the biggest single year property tax rate increase ever in DeKalb County, members of the county commission Thursday night held their final workshop before the regular monthly meeting scheduled for Monday night when the new budget and tax levy will be up for passage.
During the meeting Monday night the county commission will consider establishing an overall property tax levy of $2.61 cents per $100 of assessed value to fund the budget. That’s a 61-cent hike from the current tax levy of $2.00 per $100 of assessed value. A year ago, the rate was $1.7308 cents. The commission will also consider adopting an initial and detailed bond resolution not to exceed $65 million for the construction of a judicial center/jail.
Fifty-one cents of the proposed tax increase would go to fund debt service for a judicial center/jail while the remaining 10 cent increase would be allocated to schools to help fund the proposed new school budget which includes pay raises for certified personnel and support staff.
The county commission will also likely act on a resolution to have a public referendum on the ballot in the November election asking DeKalb County voters if they would support a $100 wheel tax for debt service to fund construction of a judicial center/jail. If approved by the voters, County Mayor Matt Adcock said funds from the wheel tax could help offset what a proposed property tax increase would generate in the meantime for debt service and allow the county to eventually scale back the size of the overall tax hike for the 2025-26 fiscal year after the wheel tax proceeds start coming in.
A public hearing on the proposed consolidated budget and property tax levy will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, June 24 prior to the monthly county commission meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multipurpose Center.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows: Call to order; invocation; pledge of allegiance; roll call; public comments; approval of agenda; approval of minutes; financial reports; budget amendments; committee reports; and new business including: appointment of DeWhite Utility District board members; appointment of beer board members; action on beer board policy and procedures; action on sales tax agreement; action on wheel tax referendum resolution; action on initial and detailed bond resolution; action on the nonprofit resolution; action on the appropriations resolution; action on tax levy resolution; approval of notaries; and any other business properly presented.
During Thursday night’s meeting, County Mayor Adcock again explained the reasons for the proposed property tax increase and the possible wheel tax option to help lighten the extra tax burden later on landowners
“The budget committee talked about offsetting the property tax hike with a proposed wheel tax of $100. For the proposed budget for 2024-25 they put 51 cents in debt service to fund some type of debt for a justice center or jail, whatever the commission decides to build and 10 cents was put toward schools for salaries for teachers and staff. So we have a total increase of 61 cents of property tax proposed but this wheel tax is supposed to offset that 61 cents. Again the $100 wheel tax would generate $2.2 million. A penny (1 cent of property tax rate) is $62, 941. The $2.2 million is equivalent to 34.95 cents of the property tax rate increase. If you take that 34.95 cents off of the 61 cents you would then eventually have a property tax rate increase of 26.05 cents when we have that additional (wheel tax) revenue. So 10 cents of that 26.05 cent increase would be for schools and 16.5 cents would be for debt service to fund the justice center or jail. That was the thought for proposing a $100 wheel tax”, said County Mayor Adcock.
Even if the proposals for the consolidated budget, tax levy, and resolution calling for a wheel tax referendum have the votes to pass Monday night, it may not be a unanimous decision, but it doesn’t have to be. It takes only eight of the fourteen commissioners voting in favor to make them happen.
Commissioner Myron Rhody said he doesn’t believe the public will vote for a $100 wheel tax in a referendum. Rhody added that some people are also concerned that the county commission might not stick to its pledge to reduce the size of the property tax rate increase later if the wheel tax should pass.
“All I hear with the wheel tax (from public) is $100 is too much but $50 might be a possibility. I’m just passing along what I hear,” said Rhody. “The second thing is people are saying once its (debt) paid off, the wheel tax won’t come off. It doesn’t in other counties for the most part. It might have in some. The third thing they (public) are saying is if 61 cents is applied to their property tax, they don’t believe the 34.95 cents will come off the next year. If we already have it initiated this year, what’s to say its going to come off next year. Those are the questions I’m getting asked all the time,” he said.
Another idea some have Rhody said is designating up to half the wheel tax revenue for roads. “If we are going to charge a wheel tax on automobiles then why can’t 50% of it go toward improving roads,” said Rhody.
Commissioner Tony Luna said he already had the idea of the county possibly designating $10 of the proposed $100 wheel tax toward roads but that allocating 50% of the revenue for that purpose would keep a $50 wheel tax in place forever in order to meet the state’s maintenance of effort law under which a county is prohibited from reducing local road department funding once its appropriated.
Luna, a proponent of the judicial center option, said he also believes the county should see how the voters feel about a wheel tax through a referendum before raising property taxes this year. Luna said the Tennessee Corrections Institute might view the county’s action to have a wheel tax referendum for debt service funding as measurable progress toward achieving the goal of eventually solving the jail issues. Luna added that the economic climate might even be better next year for building.
“I don’t think we need to pass both. I think we need to do the wheel tax or the property tax. My preference would be to put the wheel tax on a referendum. If it passes, then we know what we have to do next year. If we go to TCI and tell them we are doing this wheel tax referendum in November to see how to fund it, I think it will keep us (jail) certified and in compliance with them. I would also like to see this done (construction project) after the presidential election to see what economic climate we are in then. It may be better and at $60 million I’m willing to take a chance for six months,” said Luna.
Commissioner Beth Pafford said she believes more time is needed for the commission to make better informed decisions on a building project along with how to improve security at the existing courthouse.
“If its decided in the next year that we’re going to build a new school, we could look at where Smithville Elementary School is right now and see if that’s a viable option for a place,” said Pafford.
“The courthouse is not secure which has been a problem for a very long time. I’m not sure why that has not been addressed. We still have offices there taking up space and we can’t have just one entrance. We need to move the election commission office, county mayor’s office, and veteran’s service office to the county complex. We have plenty of space there to do that. We can make that courthouse a more secure place. I am willing to put in the sheriff’s budget for a security officer to work during office hours to screen whoever is coming into the courthouse”.
Sheriff Ray said securing the courthouse as Commissioner Pafford has suggested would require the addition of up to four new officers to his staff. Another problem, according to Sheriff Ray is availability of officers.
“Its been like pulling teeth to find officers to work the roads. I don’t have enough officers to do that or work in the jail right now and here we are worrying about a courthouse that’s right across from both the sheriff’s office and police department and has security buttons inside. It would take four officers to do it right. You can’t just have one officer searching everybody that’s coming in but I’ll have a (cost) number for you by Monday night before you pass the budget and if you make a motion to put it in there and pass it we’ll make it happen,” said Sheriff Ray.
Commissioner Tom Chandler said although the decision to raise taxes is painful, it may be necessary now because construction costs are only likely going to keep rising with further delays.
“This is a tough pill to swallow. There is no question about that. But to continue pushing this down the road only increases the price of doing it. We already know that 10 years ago we could have built a school for $16 million, at a third or less than what has been talked about now. Yes, we can push this off for another year, but we had better be expecting that the price next year is going to be higher than it is now. We have seen a lot of increase in building materials and how many times in history have we seen significant drops in the cost of living and expenses especially when everyone is driving to have higher salaries, etc. and you keep feeding the beast,” said Chandler.
Commissioner Greg Matthews asked if a tax increase option is taken off the table for debt service, would that include the 10-cent increase ($620,000 in new money) for schools as well.
“What about the 10 cents? Ten cents of that (proposed tax increase) is not for the jail or justice center. Ten cents is for schools which everybody says they are all for so we can’t say $100 for a wheel tax and no property tax increase when we know there is going to be at least 10 cents”, said Commissioner Matthews.
Commissioner Tony (Cully) Culwell suggested that there is another avenue to address schools, namely a $370,000 contribution from the local purpose (sales tax) fund in lieu of the 10 cents.
As for the judicial center option, Commissioner Andy Pack said at first, he was opposed to it, but now he feels differently.
“When I took this seat, at first, I thought you all have lost your minds with a judicial center and new property. I thought there has to be a better way. With the time and research we have already done in over a year, we are costing taxpayers money each time we meet. A lot of the things you brought up Beth (Pafford) regarding courthouse security could be resolved with this justice center,” said Commissioner Pack.
“My approach would be to go ahead and take care of this issue. We have budgeted for it and researched it. I don’t know what else we could hear that would change my mind. Again, I came in here thinking we could put this back on the property we have and make this work, but the numbers don’t lie. We have seen the facts and numbers and the longer you put this off the more its going to cost. Even if we put this off and the economy does come around, how long it that going to take?”
“I don’t think putting it strictly toward the wheel tax is the answer either,” Pack continued. “We have lots of expensive properties that this would not even touch if you just went to a wheel tax that we would be negating. And with the wheel tax you’re going to hit these low-income property owners aged 65 and older that we are trying to protect that we have on the tax freeze. With this wheel tax, you are going to impact them with that. I do think that with the feedback that I am getting that this $100 wheel tax won’t pass. I think $50 would be more of a possibility to pass but we don’t need to again kick the can down the road. If I see something that needs to be done, I research the facts. With population increases you’ll have an increase in crime. We’re asking more of the sheriff and his responsibilities in trying to place these prisoners. We’re asking more of the judges in trying to place these prisoners. We shouldn’t be putting more on our employees and elected officials than what we have to. I am a taxpayer too. I don’t like it but the longer we put this off, the more its going to cost us. We need to address this,” said Pack.
Since last fall when TCI reduced the number of certifiable jail beds here from 102 to 52, several local prisoners have been housed at other county jails at DeKalb County’s expense because of the lack of jail space but Sheriff Ray warned Thursday night that there is no guarantee that these counties will continue taking local inmates indefinitely if the jail/judicial center project is delayed another year.
Meanwhile during the public comment period of the meeting Thursday night, several citizens gave their opinions about issues regarding the jail/judicial center as well as the proposed tax levy and wheel tax option. Among them was Bob McDaniel, a car collector and owner of 23 vehicles, who spoke in opposition to a wheel tax.
“I am retired, I was a body man. That’s why I have so many cars. I have collected these cars over my entire life. I have inherited some from my parents and I just want to play with them. Not all of my vehicles are licensed, and they are not all on the road. Some of them need repair. Others are road worthy, but I have never driven them all in the two and a half years I have been here. That $100 wheel tax will mean $2,300 to me. I can’t do that. I can’t afford it,” said McDaniel