Vehicle Registration Renewal Notices from State Creating Confusion for Some

January 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

If you receive a vehicle registration renewal notice from the state make sure you don’t make your payment to the wrong county.

According to County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss a few DeKalb County residents, especially those who live near adjoining county lines, are receiving notices from the state to renew their registrations including payment of a wheel tax with  adjoining counties . DeKalb County has no wheel tax. Poss said the errors are due to the state’s new automated mailing system.

“A few months ago our computer software provider added updates which included an automated population count in counties throughout the state according to an individual’s physical address. While the updates are working overall, we have encountered areas near or around adjoining counties where a county’s automated population count is incorrect and an individual who resides in DeKalb County for example receives a notice to renew in White county because of their Sparta address. Although these erroneous renewal notices are populated and sent out by the state and not the county clerk’s office, we are making corrections as we discover them and complete new transactions,” said County Clerk Poss.

Remember, if you reside in DeKalb County, your registration renewals must be made in DeKalb County.

“If you pay property taxes in DeKalb County for a home in which you reside and you receive a renewal notice indicating a wheel tax is due this is an error from the state’s automated mailing system. Simply bring that notice in to our office and we will renew your tags without the wheel tax as DeKalb County has no such tax. Also, in order to collect a wheel tax, our software would have to be updated for such a new fee,” Poss continued.

“Do not carry these renewal notices to a county where you do not reside. For example if you live in DeKalb County and took your renewal notice to White County it would erroneously be processed through the system there (the wrong county). Should their staff not recognize yours as a DeKalb County address then White County would collect the fees instead of DeKalb County,” said Poss.

If you have questions contact the county clerk’s office at 615-597-5177.

Renewal notices are mailed each month by the state approximately six weeks in advance of expiration date of the registration, which is last day of the registration month as indicated by the month decal on the license plate.  The Tennessee Department of Revenue sends out renewal notices as a courtesy and motor vehicle registrants are obligated to renew vehicle registrations by the expiration date regardless of receipt of the courtesy reminder.

January 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville gets good marks in it’s latest financial audit report.

John Poole, Hendersonville CPA, who performed the annual audit for the city, addressed the mayor and aldermen last Monday night.

Poole said there were no major deficiencies. “The purpose of our audit is to make sure the monies we are supposed to be getting we get from property taxes, sales taxes, utility bills and other charges and that those monies are handled according to state guidelines and city policies. We then must send our findings to the state,” said Poole

“As your auditor we didn’t see anything involving what that we call revenue cycles, monies coming in, that we were concerned about at all. The city does a good job in managing those. When you have as many utility customers as you do you are obviously going to have some on a month to month who don’t pay but the city does a good job in monitoring that and making cutoffs when appropriate. As auditors we don’t have any concerns. We think things are being done the way this board and the citizens expect them to be done, “ Poole continued.

“We spent most of our time looking at the monies the city spends, the things that this board authorizes the department heads to spend. We look to see if funds are being spent on city business. We didn’t run across anything that we thought was not appropriate for the city of Smithville. We make sure we are following state guidelines when it comes to purchasing and following our city procedures when grants are involved making sure purchases were acceptable within the guidelines. We didn’t see anything that caused us any concerns,” Poole said.

While the water and sewer fund shows a small surplus there would have been a slight deficit had it not been for grants the city has received.  The general fund also spent more than it took in but Poole said there were reasons for it and he isn’t concerned.

“In the water and sewer funds we had a net in change position or profit and loss of $55,000 but it was a positive number because of grants received. Of course we don’t get those grants every year. If we had not had those grants we would have had a very small deficit in the water and sewer fund but from the state standpoint this year it is a surplus of $55,000. While we met the state guidelines this year we want to be very aware and look at our rate structure for 2019 so we ensure we are doing what the state requires us to do to make sure you have a surplus,” said Poole.

The state requires municipal water and sewer systems to be financially self supporting. If a utility runs in the red for two years in a row the state can force the city to raise rates

“In the general fund during 2018 we spent $130,000 more than we took in but you bought almost three quarters of a million dollars in equipment. We won’t do that every year,” Poole added.

Because of the city’s healthy reserves, Poole said the city is in good financial condition.

In my opinion the city’s finances are in really good shape. Cash and cash equivalents in the general fund had $3.2 million dollars plus another half million dollars in cds.  With almost $4 million in reserve you  luckily have a little cushion. If catastrophic things were to happen, the city has really good reserves that it could use to do the things it wanted to do,” Poole said.

January 13, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville is expected to receive word by next month on its application for $4.6 million in grant funding to build a parallel taxiway at the airport.

During last Monday night’s monthly meeting, Airport Manager Joe Johnson informed the mayor and aldermen that the city has met all criteria for the funding. “The grant application has been submitted and we are awaiting FAA approval. We should know something in February,” said Johnson.

In November the aldermen voted to apply for a $150,000 grant to pay most of the engineering costs in conducting a 30% design of the taxiway project to be funded 90% by federal funds, 5% by the state, and a 5% local match or $7,500.

Should the $4.6 million grant be approved, then the city will proceed with the remaining 70% of the taxiway design at a 5% grant match.

If the grant is approved it will likely be 2020 before construction begins on the taxiway.

Meanwhile, Johnson requested and received approval from the aldermen to renew the city’s five year contract with the airport engineering consulting firm of CHA, subject to a review by the city attorney and approval by the state aeronautical commission.

Johnson, with the city’s blessing, is also seeking additional grant funds to help pay for the cutting and removal of trees on private property near the airport to meet the 20:1 federal requirement for keeping the glide paths clear as aircraft approach the runway.

The airport manager informed the mayor and aldermen in September that the first phase of the project would affect eleven property owners at an estimated cost of $118,516 but if the city should acquire a grant, the local cost would only be $5,925.80. Plans call for the city to identify trees to be cut and to obtain permanent easements from the property owners for the work to be done now and again in the future.

Since September, Johnson said the city has learned that it can apply for a grant amendment to add sixteen more properties to the project at an additional cost of $20,000 to $30,000 but with a local match to the city of only 5% of that amount. If approved, Johnson said the city would save money in the long run.

Johnson also announced that the fixed based operator at the airport, Cedar Glade Aero Marine gave up its lease as of December 31 but that Landergood Aviation has signed a six month lease with the city to take over as fixed based operator subject to a review by the city attorney.

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