DeKalb County finishes fiscal year strong in collection of local option sales taxes

July 21, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County closed out the 2023-24 fiscal year on a high note at least as far as collections of local option sales taxes is concerned.

According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue net collections for the month of June (DeKalb County and all four cities combined) were $676, 466. It was the second-best month of the year (2023-24) followed by January at $846,718. June 2024 topped collections for June 2023 ($633,472) by almost $43,000.

The following are the local option sales tax collections by month for DeKalb County and the Cities in DeKalb County for the 2023-24 fiscal year and which months were best for each:

DeKalb County: January-$222,079; July-$210,447; June-$204,553; September-$192,082; October-$176,794; May-$175,278; November-$171,014; April- $170,469; December-$168,325; March-$145,744; February-$138,326; and August-$106,885

Smithville: January-$573,752; April- $426,387; July- $422,519; June-$413,111; May-$397,525; December-$392,126; March-$371,116; November-$367,352; August-$365,273; February-$359,089; September-$334,428; and October-$320,369

Alexandria: January-$32,635; February-$30,420; August-$30,418; July-$29,741; December-$29,672; April-$29,610; May-$29,309; September-$28,894; October-$28,779; November-$28,266; June-$28,110; and March-$26,942

Liberty: June-$27,328; May-$18,367; March-$14,130; January-$13,933; April-$13,575; December-$12,527; November-$12,499; August- $11,496; October-$11,463; July-$10,528; February-$9,948; and September-$9,906

Dowelltown: August-$4,437; February-$4,428; January-$4,318; March-$3,524; December-$3,510; May-$3,499; June-$3,362; April-$3,342; October-$3,140; July-$3,044; November-$3,014; and September-$3,001

DeKalb County’s net local option sales tax collections with the cities included for the year by month were as follows: January-$846,718; June-$676,466; July-$676,282; April-$643,385; May-$623,979; December-$606,162; November-$582,147; September-$568,313; March-$561,458; February-$542,212; October-$540,546; and August-$518,510.

June sales tax collections reflect previous month activity.

July 21, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

A total of 342 people has cast ballots during the first eight days of early voting for the August 1 elections.

Sample Ballot

On Saturday July 20 the election commission reports that in Smithville at the courthouse 30 voted and from that number 26 cast ballots in the Tennessee Republican Primary and 4 in the state Democratic Primary.

Early voting is underway through July 27.

Early voters may cast ballots at the courthouse in Smithville during a six-hour period on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and Tuesday from 12 noon until 6 p.m. Saturday voting will be from 9 a.m. until noon.

In Alexandria, early voting will take place again on Tuesday, July 23 from 12 noon until 6 p.m. at the Kenneth Sandlin Center on the DeKalb County Fairgrounds.

The elections on Thursday, August 1 will include the DeKalb County General Election, Municipal Elections in Smithville, Dowelltown, and Alexandria, and the Tennessee Republican and Democratic Primaries.

The deadline to update an address on voter registrations is Friday, July 26.

July 19, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Government is in the process of implementing corrective actions to hazard violations discovered by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) in the wake of a fatal accident at the Solid Waste Transfer Station last month.

69-year-old Alvin Armour, a long-time solid waste department employee, died after he was accidentally struck and run over by another county garbage truck driver at the transfer station on June 10.

County officials notified TOSHA of the accident as required by law and a compliance officer conducted a subsequent site visit during which violations were observed from Unsafe or Unhealthful Working Conditions. TOSHA requested that the county take “corrective action to abate all of these hazardous conditions for each violation”.

DeKalb County Public Works Director Brian Reed said many of the safety improvements at the solid waste transfer station have already been implemented.

“Many of the counter measures were implemented the following day after the accident,” said Reed. “The only thing that has not been fully implemented yet is the line markings on the lot for direction flow and the pedestrian cross walk and things of that nature”.

Reed said he wanted to thank County Commissioner Tony Luna, who only days after the fatal accident in June and at his own expense, purchased safety vests for the county’s solid waste truck drivers and site attendants at all the convenience centers.

“When I learned during a county commission meeting, after Mr. Armour’s death that no one at the solid waste department had safety vests I immediately I got on Amazon and purchased enough safety vests for all employees of solid waste,” said Commissioner Luna.

County Mayor Matt Adcock and Reed have identified the improvements that have been made or planned at the solid waste transfer station as follows:

1. Employees are to wear hi-visibility clothing when outside of the vehicle.

2. Employees are to maintain a minimum of 15 ft clearance between their equipment and other equipment.

3. Employees are to maintain a minimum of 15 ft of clearance between themselves and equipment operated by others.

4. Employees are to stay within 5 ft of their equipment unless they are in a designated parking area.

5. Employees are to confirm eye contact has been made and signal their intentions before crossing paths with another vehicle.

6. Employees are to blow their horn before backing.

7. Traffic into the transfer station is to be limited to a maximum of 3 vehicles at a time in line. Any additional vehicles will have to wait to weigh in until others have exited in order to reduce congestion.

8. Traffic lines, direction arrows, pedestrian crosswalk, and non-traffic areas are to be painted on the pavement.

During Thursday night’s committee of the whole meeting, County Mayor Adcock introduced Reed to the county commission and some of commissioners as well as a member of the public in attendance were complimentary of him.

“I am very proud of the entire team I have in the solid waste department,” Reed told WJLE. “I appreciate the complimentary comments made by county commissioners and others but it’s not just me. I could not do my job without the team around me,” said Reed.

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