Smithville Property Owners to Pay Higher City Taxes Starting this Fall

June 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville property taxpayers will have to dig a little deeper in their pockets starting this fall.

By a vote of 3 to 2, the aldermen  Tuesday  gave final approval for a property tax increase of 25 cents per $100 of assessed value while adopting the 2019-20 fiscal year budget during a special called meeting at city hall.

The new rate, to be applied to tax bills this fall, will be 89.9 cents per $100 of assessed value, up from 64.9 cents.

A public hearing was held 30 minutes prior to the meeting but no one spoke out either in support or opposition to the tax increase or budget. However after the meeting one resident, former Alderman W.J. (Dub) White approached the aldermen who voted against it to thank them.

The vote was identical to the one taken during first reading passage on Monday, June 10 and there were no changes in the proposed budget between the first and second readings.

As before Aldermen Danny Washer, Shawn Jacobs, and Gayla Hendrix voted in favor while Aldermen Brandon Cox and Donnie Crook voted no.

The new tax rate is expected to generate $350,000 in new money for the general fund but even so projections are that the city will finish in the black by only $66,162 as of June 30, 2020 if all funds budgeted are spent The city is projected to end the current fiscal year 2018-19 in the red by $279,048 come June 30, 2019.

The water and sewer fund is not faring much better. Although water and sewer rates were last increased in 2017 the revenue is not keeping pace with expenditures which may force city leaders to take another look at rates again next year (2020-21).

By June 30, 2020 the city’s water and sewer fund is expected to be in the red by $237,542. Projections are that the city will be in the hole by $205,147 in the water and sewer fund as of June 30, 2019.

Under state law, if a utility continues to operate at a loss for more than two years and doesn’t address it, the state has the authority to force rate increases to make it solvent.

City water customers currently pay $7.25 per thousand gallons of usage. Rates for customers outside the city limits are $10.88 per thousand. City sewer customers pay $6.75 per thousand gallons. Those rates will remain the same over the next year.

Water tap fee increases have been included in the new budget for customers both inside and outside the city.

Although the municipality has water/sewer and general fund surpluses totaling several millions of dollars, city leaders say the government can’t continually dip into those surpluses to operate.
The largest project on the table in the general fund is a new police department building. The proposed 7,805 square foot structure would be built on property donated to the city on the north side of the city hall/fire department complex at Don Cantrell Street.

The cost of the new facility could be as much as two million dollars to be funded either on a long term note or bond issue. From the start date of construction, projections are the building could be completed possibly within one year.

The mayor and aldermen recently met with Wayne Oakley of Studio Oakley Architects, LLC who submitted a bid to design the new police department building for the city at $105,000 and that cost has been included in the new budget as engineering fees.

A 2% pay raise has been figured into the budget for city employees who have topped out on the wage scale and funds for employee disability insurance coverage to help protect city employees from loss of income in the event they are unable to work for a period of time due to illness, injury, or accident while off the job. Capital outlay expenditures total $622,100 much of which includes grants for airport easements and clearing and a grant match for sidewalk improvements. Plans are to purchase two used police cars and a 16 foot flat bed trailer for the fire department.

Capital outlay expenses for the water and sewer include the purchase of a Kubota trackhoe, trailer, diesel truck, 9 foot dump body, camera system for leak detection, and engineering fees and sewer rehab project construction costs. The city has applied for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to help fund the sewer rehab project.

June 24, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The county budget committee will have to get back to work next month on the proposed budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year after the county commission Monday night rejected a recommendation to increase the property tax rate by 29 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Eight votes were needed for passage. Five commissioners voted in favor but six cast a no vote. Three members, Beth Pafford, Jenny Trapp, and Anita Puckett were absent.

MAH00058 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Commissioners voting for the tax hike were Sabrina Farler, Dr. Scott Little, Janice Fish-Stewart, Jerry Adcock, and Jeff Barnes. Those voting against were Dennis Slager, Julie Young, Myron Rhody, Bobby Johnson, Matt Adcock, and Bruce Malone.

A public hearing  on the proposed tax rate and consolidated budget was held 30 minutes prior to the start of the regular monthly meeting but no one spoke up either in support or opposition from the public.

Since the proposed resolution on the tax levy failed, action had to be delayed on passage of the new consolidated budget and appropriation resolutions until after the budget committee meets again to revise its recommendation on July 10 at 5 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse. The county commission doesn’t meet again until July 22 at 6:30 p.m.

In the meantime, the commission Monday night adopted a routine continuing budget resolution to keep county government operating passed July 1 until the new budget and tax rate are adopted.

Although they didn’t state their reasons during the meeting, half of the commissioners voting no told WJLE after the meeting they felt the proposed tax hike was too much while the other three said it didn’t go far enough in meeting existing and future needs. Even a couple of commissioners voting yes said they felt the county should do more.

With the proposed increase, as recommended by the budget committee, county taxpayers would have paid $2.12 per $100 of assessed value starting this fall, up from the current rate of $1.83. However none of the proposed increase would have gone to fund a new school building program. Although the Board of Education has settled on a new Pre-K to 2^nd grade school model it has not yet sent a request for funding to the county commission. When that request does come, some say the county may have to re-visit property taxes and or seek a wheel tax to help support a school building program.

Steve Bates, the county’s financial advisor, has warned that the county cannot go another year without more revenue.

According to Bates, the county general fund is expected to be in the red by $1,681,933 as of June 30, 2020 if spending goes according to the proposed budget. To balance the budget, the county would have to pull the $1.6 million from the fund balance (cash reserves). Even with a 29 cent tax hike, Bates said the county general fund is still projected to run in the red by $473,132 as of June 30, 2020 if all budgeted funding is spent. However, he added the county could manage and possibly grow out of the deficit as long as spending is kept in check.

While most of the proposed tax increase, 25 cents would have gone to shore up the general fund, the remaining 4 cents would have been added to schools which is needed to meet the state required local Basic Education Program (BEP) match for education. The county proposed to take one cent from the Capital Projects Fund and move it to the Road Department to meet the state required five year average for local funding of roads. With the move, the county would  have been allocating 4 cents of the property tax for roads rather than the current 3 cents. The tax rate for Capital Projects would have gone from 10 cents to 9 cents.

The proposed tax rate was to be divided among the funds as follows:

*County General: $1.21.35 cents, up by 25 cents from the current rate of 0.9635 cents

*Highway/Public Works: 0.04 cents, up by 1 cent from the current rate of 0.03 cents

*General Capital Projects: 0.9 cents, down by 1 cent from the current rate of 0.10 cents

*Debt Service: 0.13 cents

*General Purpose Schools: 0.65 cents, up by 4 cents from the current rate of 0.61 cents.

June 24, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Video from a home security camera system helped nab a burglar on Toad Road last week

19 year old Robert Stephen Ryan Derrick of Toad Road, Dowelltown is charged with vandalism, possession of burglary tools, aggravated burglary, and theft of property. He is under a $35,000 bond and his court date is July 11.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Monday, June 17 a deputy was summoned to a residence on Toad Road due to a break-in and upon arrival noticed that the back door of the home appeared to have been forced open.  The image of a suspect was captured on video from home security cameras and the man shown was later identified as Derrick from previous booking photos of him at the jail.

Upon his arrest, Derrick had on him a claw hammer, believed to have been used in the break-in and an estimated $875 worth of items were taken from the home. He also caused about $375 worth of damage to the residence.

52 year old Neal Tracy Loucks of Tami Kay Road, Dowelltown is charged with aggravated assault. His bond is $10,000 and he will be in court July 11.

Sheriff Ray said that on Sunday, June 23 a deputy responded to a residence on Tami Kay Road due to a domestic fight. Upon arrival the officer spoke with the victim who claimed that Loucks began pushing her while she was trying to gather her belongings. According to the woman, Loucks shoved her to the couch, began trying to choke her, and punched her in the face.

A 16 year old boy will make an appearance in Juvenile Court on Thursday, June 27 after recently breaking into a home on Tubbs Street in Liberty on two separate occasions.

Sheriff Ray said the boy is accused of entering the home on one occasion and taking an Xbox One and controller, headset and video games.  On the second occasion, the boy pried open a rear window causing $200 in damage and took 2 Mountain Dews, 4 A& W Root Beers, a Hungry Man dinner, and 4 sausage and biscuits.

The case was investigated by detectives who obtained juvenile petitions against the boy.

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