Pay Raises Approved

August 19, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Pay Raises approved!

A group of county employees along with DeKalb County teachers, support staff, and bus drivers will soon be seeing larger paychecks with passage of the consolidated budget by the county commission Tuesday night

Teachers and support staff in the DeKalb County School System will be getting the largest local pay raise ever in a single year. The plan was first adopted by the Board of Education before being recommended by the county budget committee for the 2021-22 year. With passage of the school budget by the county commission Tuesday night teachers and other certified personnel will each get a $5,000 raise while support staff will each earn $3,000 more. Bus drivers will not share in the support staff raises but will be getting a pay hike just for them. Starting pay for bus drivers will jump from $74 to $100 per day. Pay for bus drivers with five or more years of service is to go to $115 per day and drivers of special education bus routes are to earn $120 per day. Meanwhile all middle and high school head coaches and assistant coaches are to each get an increase of $715 in supplement pay. Money is also included in the budget to fund an assistant coaching position in nine sports programs at the middle school and high school where the head coach currently has no assistant coach.

Except for step increases, base pay for a particular group of county employees has not been adjusted in four years. That will soon change.

Wage Scale 2

Wage Scale 

With passage of the budget Tuesday night, the county is revising the base pay of county employees who fall under two separate wage scales already in place. Both are 13-tiered plans including an administrative employee pay scale which tops out at 20 years and applies mainly to employees who work for elected and appointed county officials at the courthouse and county complex. The other plan tops out at 13 years and is for full-time library staff and senior center directors.

Under the 20-year plan, the pay increases could range from $3,744 to $4,896 annually depending on years of service, while raises for those in the 13-year plan are jumping by $2,976 to $4,128. The total amount of the proposed pay hikes, including benefits, will add $129,703 in new spending to the county budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Custodians who work at the courthouse and county complex will get at least a $3,000 pay raise according to their wage scale

Full time solid waste CDL drivers and laborers are to get a pay raise according to their wage scale

The three Judicial Commissioners are to each get a $1,000 per year pay raise. The salaries are to go from $12,900 to $13,900 per year

The Juvenile Court Youth Service Officer is to get a $4,000 pay raise

The county’s existing shared county firefighter position pay will increase from $12 to $15 per hour (total cost $31,200). No one specific individual holds the 40 hour per week position. Available county firefighters, who are trained and certified, rotate in and out of the position as needed. No one works more than 24 hours per week.

Pay raise for EMS director: $2,000

County public officials are getting a pay raise as prescribed by the state

August 19, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Animal Coalition is Accepting Applications for an Animal Care Technician

Major responsibilities include but are not limited to:

1. Assisting in day-to-day care of animals at the Shelter, some weekends included;

2. Cleaning and disinfecting animal kennels and equipment;

3. Helping administer vaccines, IV’s and other meds;

4. Assisting with animal control and recording all information into data base;

5. Assisting with adoptions and public education programs;

6. Operating basic office equipment and possessing good computer skills;

7. Establishing a good working relationship with City and County personnel;

8. Dealing well with the public, law enforcement, civic groups, and volunteers.

9. Grant writing skills prized;

10.. Licensed Veterinary Technician preferred, experience working with animals in veterinary setting, animal shelter or some animal related position;

11. Willingness to work extended hours as necessity arises;

12. A valid Tennessee driver’s license and good driving skills for transporting rescues;

13. The ability to subdue and calm an unruly animal;

14. Must pass drug test and have strength to lift 50 pounds dog food;

15.Three good references, two from past employers.

Send resume’ to P.O. Box 354, Smithville, TN 37166 on or before August 23, 2021.

August 17, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Commission adopted the 2021-22 fiscal year budget and set the new property tax rate during a special meeting Tuesday night at the county complex.

The new certified tax rate of $1.7308 per $100 of assessed value is less than last year’s rate of $2.1235 but because of reappraisal the county will receive virtually the same amount of local tax revenue as last year.

A public hearing was held prior to the meeting in which citizens spoke in support of the animal coalition, EMS, E911, and county firefighting services,  while others raised concerns about certain roads in the Four Seasons community. In response, Road Supervisor Danny Hale gave assurances that the concerns would be addressed.

Although unsuccessful efforts were made by members of the commission to amend the budget to remove money for new vehicles for the Assessor of Property and EMS Director to replace older ones for their official use and to cut pay raises for judicial commissioners, the consolidated budget for all departments was basically adopted as presented. Originally the budget included $39,805 in total funding for the DeKalb Animal Coalition but the commission voted to amend the budget to make the contribution $36,805 for the coalition to use as it sees fit (hiring an employee, etc.) and for the remaining $3,000 to stay in a separate budgetary line item (contracted services) so that the county can continue honoring its obligation under an August 2015 contract or memorandum of understanding with the coalition to pay for  having aggressive animals picked up. According to the six year old agreement, which is still valid the county is to pay the coalition $110 when the sheriff or county mayor gets a complaint of an aggressive animal and needs the coalition to pickup the animal. The coalition gets $55 if no animal is brought back. The annual $3,000 allocation by the county is budgeted to cover that cost. This past year the county paid out $1,100.

At one point during the meeting tempers flared as fifth district commissioner Jerry Adcock, who was vehemently opposed to giving the coalition more county money.  became angry and took issue with something first district commissioner Shaee Flatt had said in defense of the animal coalition. Adcock came close to being ejected from the meeting.

Adcock first got upset over a motion made by sixth district commissioner Matt Adcock to contribute to the animal coalition $20,000 instead of $36,805 but to leave $3,000 in the budget as contracted services to the coalition for the pickup of aggressive animals. Seventh district commissioner Bruce Malone offered a second to the motion which later failed on a 6-6 vote with Jerry Adcock voting “present”.

During the discussion on the motion, Jerry Adcock pointed to the six year old agreement (memorandum of understanding) the county still has with the coalition to only pay for picking up aggressive animals and no more. Adcock, who claims the coalition said at the time they would never return to the commission asking for more money, insisted that the county stick to this agreement.

In response, first district commissioner Shaee Flatt said he too had concerns about the agreement but added “ in the end we need to weigh the benefit that the coalition gives the county versus this memorandum of understanding and if anyone wants to cut the entire funding of them maybe they should volunteer to go pick up the dogs when no one else can”.

Adcock angrily took offense to that and asked Flatt “How many times have you voted in DeKalb County”

“I don’t have to answer to you Jerry. I’m not going to sit down like everybody else. Shut up” replied Flatt.

“You have voted one time in DeKalb County and your family all goes to Mount Juliet to school”, Adcock shot back.

“Jerry we’re not going to go through this,” warned County Mayor and Commission Chairman Tim Stribling.

As Adcock continued his rant Chairman Stribling and Parliamentarian Hilton Conger called for the Sergeant at Arms (Sheriff Patrick Ray) to come forward to restore order.

“Sheriff you are going to have to get control please. I’m not saying remove him (Adcock). As sheriff Ray approached Adcock shouted “What, are you going to kick me out so I can’t speak for these people out here”. Adcock then calmed down as Sheriff Ray whispered something to him and the meeting continued.

In response to Adcock’s insistence that the county should stick to its current agreement with the coalition, third district commissioner Susannah Cripps Daughtry said the county should do more to help. “at the start of any business you don’t know so now that we know a majority of the animals are coming from outside the city but within the borders of DeKalb County and we have no choice but to do better. We have a responsibility and we need to step up like the City of Smithville has done and meet that responsibility,” she said.

After Matt Adcock’s motion failed fifth district commissioner Anita Puckett moved that the budget be amended to give the coalition $36,805 and to leave $3,000 in contracted services for animal control to continue honoring the county’s obligation to the coalition under the existing memorandum of understanding to pay for pickup of aggressive animals. Second district member Sabrina Farler offered a second to the motion which was adopted on a 9-3 vote . Jerry Adcock again voted present.

On another issue, commissioner Puckett then made a motion to cut $60,000 from the $225,000 allocation for the purchase of motor vehicles from the capital projects fund. Sixth district commissioner Jeff Barnes offered a second to the motion which failed on an 8 to 5 vote.

The move would have cut $30,000 for a new truck for the property assessor and $30,000 for a new SUV for the EMS director for use in their official capacity. According to Puckett’s motion the remaining $165,000 would be left untouched for purchasing and equipping five new patrol cars for the sheriff’s department.

Puckett argued that the county needs to watch its spending due to an uncertain year ahead.

“Our tax rate has gone down 39 cents and we’re unsettled about what Covid is going to do and what this next year is going to look like so we need to look at what’s needed and not what is wanted,” said Puckett

First district commissioner Julie Young said if the commission wants to get serious about cutting spending there are more places to look.

“We do need to be mindful of spending but those vehicles being requested by these departments is not a lot of money and the Assessor wouldn’t be asking for a vehicle if he didn’t need it and look at the money he brings in to our county by going out and getting properties to bring our taxes in. I can pull out my budget and really do some cutting on this budget. Maybe we don’t need four new police cars or a sign at the complex or $10,000 at my Alexandria Senior Citizens Center. Maybe we don’t need a lot of things. Lets don’t nit-pick and play our politics. Lets give the office holders of this county what they requested. We’ve got the money,” said Young.

Seventh district commissioner Bruce Malone then moved to remove from the budget the $1,000 pay raise for each of the three judicial commissioners. Commissioner Jerry Adcock offered a second to the motion but it failed 11-2. Malone said the judicial commissioners had just been given a pay raise last year.

The tax rate is to be distributed to the various funds as follows:

County General: 0.9891 cents
Highway/Public Works: 0.0326 cents
General Capital Projects: 0.0734 cents
General Debt Service: 0.1060 cents
General Purpose Schools: 0.5298
Total property tax rate: $1.7308

(Video below is the public hearing prior to the county commission meeting Tuesday night)

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