Budget Committee works on final plan

A special Budget Committee meeting was called June 9 to help finalize and amend the budget plan for White County. The previous budget plan was posted on Facebook by Commissioner Kyle Goff for public viewing.

Commissioner Derrick Hutchings wanted to clarify for the audience and residents that many of these amendments are “already in the budget allocated, just different general ledger numbers and we’re just moving those to balance for the audit.”

The first amendment was an amendment for the jail medical claims. It is a $90,000 amendment appropriating funds required for hospital doctor treatments outside of the jail.

The second amendment was reallocating funds from the jail to the sheriff’s office to cover overtime and medical insurance costs, so it was just shifting existing money, $102,000, in the budget.

Amendment three was a $6,909 amendment to appropriate funds for the sheriff’s office as well, getting grant funds for the department.

Amendment four was a $97,000 amendment for gasoline usage in excess of the original amount for the sheriff’s office.

Amendment five was a $20,000 amendment for the bulletproof vest grant program received through the U.S. Department of Justice. Amendment six was a $18,000 budget amendment for appropriating funds for refunds issued to White County Emergency Medical Service.

Amendment seven was a $20,000 amendment made in anticipation for 2025 autopsy and medical examiner expenses, and anything not used from this shall be rolled back into the fund balance. Amendment eight was a $12,000 increase for the public library to purchase books and other media.

Amendment nine was a reallocation of funds from salaries to cover part-time employees in a few departments.

Amendment 10 was to increase the funding in the trustee’s commission for auditing purposes.

Amendment 11 was a $110,000 amendment to appropriate a tourism enhancement grant by the Chamber of Commerce. Amendment 12 was an approval for a new ambulance and power loading system costing $395,000.

The grant funds are the only amendments mentioned that are new to the budget, but those are grants that the county is simply administering through the budget.

T.K. Austin approved a motion to send all 12 amendments to full court, and all four committee members present voted “yes.”

There were also a few reallocations done within the budget committee. Since these amendments were just changes within the same departments, just rearranging on a few lines and adding no new money, the committee was able to approve the amendments without sending to full court. An example was the solid waste fund, which moved $20,000 within the fund from “disposal fees” to “other contracted services.” All these amendments do is fix clerical issues or help clarify within the budget.

There were also a few amendments for the 2026 budget regarding the federal grant funds passed through the Tennessee Department of Education. These grants do not go to the full court since they only need approval from the TDOE, the budget committee, then the school board.

There was at least one matter that required new funds added to the budget. The clerk’s office was wanting to rent a building for storage. Commissioner Hutchings, however, helped find a storage building, 24 x 36, that would cost about $20,000. This would be an on-site storage building rather than rented. There was a motion put forward to add $18,500 to the existing $1,500 fund so the building can be purchased, and it was approved.

After these amendments and approvals, the audience was once again allowed to speak and ask questions one at a time. Clarification was the major theme of the audience’s questions. For example, there was a requested clarification for the maintenance fees listed on the budget. Chad Marcum, White County director of finance, answered the specific questions for the various departments that had maintenance fees.

The full court will vote on the priorly approved $1.57 tax rate, on June 16. If it does not pass, the budget committee will meet again to attempt to make cuts that would allow a lower tax rate. It was said during the commission meeting that wages would likely be the only place where substantial cuts can be made, as cutting positions could only lower that rate about half a penny to a penny each.