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.
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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 2nd 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.