Budget committee meets final time before county commission meeting on July 21

A special county budget committee meeting was called for July 15, and members enjoyed one of the calmest meetings they have had in months.

Just a week prior to this meeting, the Budget Committee was able to finally agree on a proposal to send to full court for the 2026 fiscal year, including the $1.45 property tax rate. The full court will vote on that proposal July 21. The meeting was called to discuss the revised budget with other commissioners, reviewing the budget, and asking questions. The commission did not, and could not, change the $1.45 proposal that was already sent to full court.

One of the first questions posed regarding the budget that commission chairman Derek Hutchings asked was about county employees that work more than 40 hours in a week. Others had asked Hutchings to help get clarification if, for example, the budget proposal had considered employees that work an average of 43 hours a week instead.

Finance director Chad Marcum clarified the raise was calculated based on a 40-hour week. For the hourly rate, the pay increase came out to around $1.92 more per hour, while the salary pays just got a flat $4,000 increase to their yearly salary.

Budget chairman Kyle Goff asked about a $50,000 addition to fire protection that runs through the emergency management agency. Finance director Marcum explained how they had, in years prior, allocated $45,000 to fire departments and $5,000 to Rescue Squad. With the $50,000 addition, that brings it to $90,000 for the fire departments and $10,000 for the Rescue Squad.

Budget committee chairman Goff also asked about a line in the budget accounting for a $100,000 increase in revenue from sales tax during the fiscal year. Finance director Marcum talked about the increase in revenue year by year, likely due to the county’s growth, and that $100,000 is about as far as he would be willing to calculate potential growth in the next year.

Commissioner Chris Brewington asked about the increase in the library’s listed budget, which has increased from $53,000 to $61,000 in this year’s budget. Finance director Marcum said it was “one of the organizations that was one of our targeted increases with pay rates. They have historically been some of the lowest paid full-time employees that we have, so we were trying to adjust them where they would be more in line with everybody else for those types of positions.”

Commissioner Brewington also asked about the two pennies set aside for Parks and Recreation, which finance director Marcum said has been done since the late 90s in the county. Commissioner Brewington then continued to ask how that money operates. Finance director Marcum explained that the pennies have acted as a reserve to help mostly with general maintenance, and rarely has the county had to dig deep into that reserve for an emergency.

There were other minor questions asked to help clarify a few lines on the budget. The committee meeting can be viewed on the White County TN Commission YouTube page. It was only an hour long, shorter than most of the recent meetings, and there were no audience members that spoke up at the end of the meeting.

The full commission meeting shall take place July 21, where the commissioners will vote on the $1.45 proposed tax rate. Committee chairman Goff has posted a Google drive link under one of his Facebook posts that lists the complete proposal.