News
June 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Your county property taxes may soon be going up!
The county budget committee completed its work on the proposed 2023-24 fiscal year budget Tuesday night and voted unanimously (7-0) to recommend to the full county commission that the property tax rate be increased by almost 27 cents (0.2692 cents) from the current level of $1.7308 cents to $2.00 per $100 of assessed value and that all the increase go into the county general fund. The committee also voted unanimously to recommend to the commission approval of all county budgets in consolidated form.
Steve Bates, the county’s financial advisor/fiscal agent at a previous meeting said that the county needed more revenue to help offset higher costs of operation due to inflation and other factors that have taken a toll on the county general budget in recent years.
“With the 0.2692 cent property tax increase (if approved by the county commission) revenues will exceed expenditures in the county general fund now by $15,946 so you are still balanced and the fund balance as a percentage of revenues and expenditures is 30% and that is a good number,” said Bates.
During the meeting Tuesday night, the budget committee approved the County Highway Department operating budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Road Supervisor Danny Hale made no requests for additional local funding. He explained that his operation will be benefitting from a $2.5 million allocation from the State Aid Highway Program Investment fund made possible through the Governor’s Transportation Modernization Act which was approved earlier this year by the Tennessee General Assembly.
Hale said that the new money will be earmarked for state aid road and bridge projects to be spent over a three-year period.
“I have $191,000 in my state aid road (budget) right now. I also have $700,000 plus for state aid bridges. On July 1, I am getting $2,515,518 but this is one time money coming to the county from the state so when you put all those expenditures together its $3.7 million for state aid projects and from the $2.5 million allocation, I will have that to spend over the next three years for state aid roads and bridges,” said Road Supervisor Hale.
In other moves, the budget committee voted 6-1 to cut the $5,000 non-profit contribution to WCTE. Committee member Sabrina Farler voted no.
Also approved by the committee was County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss’ request for the county to fund half of a new full-time position in his office. Restricted earmarked fees for his office generated from noting of liens and titling transactions will be used to fund the rest of the salary. The salary for the position including benefits is $43,600 for a first-year employee. The county’s portion will be half or $21,800. The vote to approve Poss’ request was 5-2. Committee members voting against were Sabrina Farler and Beth Pafford. Poss later said he might have enough earmarked funds to pay for more than half of the salary.
The county clerk’s office currently has four full time employees and one of them doubles as a deputy clerk and bookkeeper. Poss said his goal is to have this employee become a full-time bookkeeper and to hire a new deputy clerk.
The budget committee voted to restore $39,176 in funding to the line item for laborers at the convenience sites in the solid waste budget for 2023-24 which was previously cut in a cost-saving move by the committee on May 9. The vote to restore the funding was 4-3. Budget committee members Beth Pafford, Susannah Cripps Daughtry, and Daniel Cripps voted no.
County Mayor Matt Adcock had said at an earlier meeting that the budget cut was unnecessary because more than enough revenues from tipping fees are being generated to support the salaries. With the cut (from $394,176 to $355,000), Adcock said there would not have been enough funds budgeted to pay the laborers to work six days per week and he would have been forced to close the county’s convenience sites all day on Wednesdays, in addition to Sundays when they are already closed due to a policy decision he made last fall. With the funds restored to the $394,176 level for the 2023-24 fiscal year, the convenience sites will apparently remain open six days per week and the laborer’s hours will not be cut.
Committee member Larry Green made a motion to fund a previous request by County Fire Chief Donny Green for an expenditure of $50,000 from the capital projects fund to purchase a new SUV for the fire department. That request was first rejected by the committee on a 5-2 vote last month. The request was again denied Tuesday night but this time on a 4-3 vote. Committee members Beth Pafford, Greg Matthews, Daniel Cripps and Susannah Cripps Daughtry voted no.
Members of the committee tried twice unsuccessfully to include funding from the capital projects fund for a few new portable digital radios with dual band/multiband frequency capability for the county’s emergency services departments to replace soon to be outdated analogue radios. Member Larry Green moved to fund 10 new radios (only a portion of what the county will eventually need) from capital projects for a total of $36,000. Green said it would be smarter to buy a few new radios now rather than wait until they all are needed because of the exorbitant expense and that by starting now, the county might be eligible for state grant funding later to help purchase what is needed. The motion died for the lack of a second.
Following the vote, committee member Greg Matthews then made a motion to purchase five new radios for $18,000. This time the vote failed 5-2. Only members Matthews and Larry Green voted in favor of the purchase.
The county commission will take up passage of the budgets and property tax rate during its next regular scheduled monthly meeting on Monday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the county complex in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multipurpose Center.
If approved as recommended by the committee, the property tax rate would be divided as follows:
County General: $1.2583, up from the current level of 0.9891 cents
Highways/Public Works: 0.0326 cents (no increase)
General Capital Projects: 0.0733 cents (no increase)
Debt Service: 0.1060 cents (no increase)
General Purpose Schools: 0.5298 cents (no increase)
Total proposed tax rate: $2.00, up from current level of $1.7308 cents.
Members of the County Budget Committee are Chairman Jeff Barnes and members Daniel Cripps, Sabrina Farler, Susannah Cripps Daughtry, Greg Matthews, Larry Green, and Beth Pafford.
Man Allegedly Attacks His Former Foster Parent
June 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
A McMinnville man is in trouble with the law for allegedly attacking his former foster parent and that man’s daughter.
22-year-old Garrett Nicolas Vallem is charged with two counts of aggravated assault. Bond for Vallem is $20,000 and he will make a court appearance on June 22.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on June 1, a deputy was summoned to a residence on Old Bildad Road due to a 911 wrong number call. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with a man and his daughter who reported that Vallem showed up intoxicated at their home and began arguing. They said Vallem then stood up and hit his former foster parent several times on the arms, ribs and face, before putting his hands around the man’s neck rendering him almost unconscious. As the daughter intervened trying to break up the fight, Vallem allegedly hit and grabbed the woman by the throat, rendering her almost unconscious. The officer reported that the former foster parent had red marks on his neck and the side of his head, as well as a cut on his elbow and head, while the woman also showed red marks around her neck.
36-year-old Timothy Leon Summers Jr. of Midway Road, Smithville, is charged with filing a false report. His bond is $5,000 and will be in court on June 8. Sheriff Ray said that on May 23 a deputy went to a residence on New Bildad Road, Smithville, looking for a woman who was under an active warrant. Upon arrival, the deputy spoke with Summers, who reported that the woman the officer was looking for was not at the residence, but at her mother’s house. The deputy then spotted the woman walking out of the home. She was placed in custody and Summers was arrested for filing a false report.
28-year-old Chase Allen Fults of McMinnville is charged with evading arrest by a vehicle. His bond is $7,500 and he will make a court appearance on June 7. Sheriff Ray said that on April 30 while patrolling Sparta Highway, a deputy spotted a black car traveling at a high rate of speed, and it left its lane of travel several times. The deputy activated his blue lights and siren, but the vehicle refused to stop. The driver, Fults then crashed after failing to negotiate a curve. He was injured in the wreck and later arrested.
50-year-old Daniel Lee Pickford of Clemet City, Michigan was arrested on a fugitive from justice warrant on May 25. He is under a $75,000 bond. Sheriff Ray said that Pickford was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over for a traffic offense. During a background check through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the deputy learned that Pickford had a felony warrant against him in Michigan for failing to pay child support. He is to be extradited back to Michigan.
Fiddlers Jamboree to Seek Grants
June 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
The Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree Board of Directors will be seeking grants to help support the annual festival.
Kim Driver Luton, President of the Jamboree Board addressed the Smithville Aldermen Monday night to ask their blessing on the Jamboree’s efforts to obtain grants.
“We would like to apply for two or three grants that will be available July 1. One of the grants is from the National Endowment for the Arts and there will be enhancement grants, and others,” said Luton.
In order to obtain the grants, the Jamboree will need the city to make application on its behalf. If approved the city would not bear any matching grant costs. The Jamboree would pick up that expense.
Luton said the Jamboree is hoping to get a grant for a new cover (canopy/awning) for the stage which is an expensive project. The Jamboree has been without one since 2019 when a summer storm just days before the annual festival blew down and damaged the canopy and support beams.
City officials said no action was needed by the mayor and aldermen for the Jamboree to proceed.
“Thank you (city leaders) for what you do for that two-day weekend because we know it’s a very busy time for you providing sanitation, police, and fire protection,” added Luton.
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