Commissioners vote down additional funding for additional codes inspector

White County Commissioners failed once again to pass a resolution that would add a new employee to the county codes department.

With just nine members present at the February meeting, the resolution that would have provided $28,000 to fund an additional building codes inspector in White County could only afford to have one nay vote, instead it received three.

Before the motion was voted on, county executive Denny Wayne Robinson was asked if this would fund a third person for that department, and he confirmed that it would. He also explained that currently, the codes inspector cannot keep up with both residential and commercial inspections because of the demands on his time. He was asked by commissioner Kyle Goff if he was able to do the commercial inspections, and Robinson said that while he was qualified, with his current workload he was unable to do them indicating that White County is in the midst of a construction boom.

In January, a similar resolution failed because commissioners’ concerns about recurring costs. As it now stands, the money for the additional employee would come from the unassigned fund balance. Previously, commissioners expressed concerns about whether the codes department would generate enough new revenue through additional inspections and permits to be able to fund this position into the future.

While a new building permit fee schedule was approved prior to the discussion about the possibility of funding a new employee, the idea of future funding may have still been on the minds of some commissioners. When it came to a vote, the resolution – No. 12-02-2025 – received six yes votes and three no, with five commissioners absent. Those commissioners voting in favor of funding the new position were Thomas Margeson, Kyle Goff, T.K. Austin, David Cranford, Dakota White, and Roger Mason, while those voting against it were Becky Golden, Chris Brewington, and Larry Daniels. Cain Rogers, Lanny Selby, Robert McCormick, Derrick Hutchings, and Jordan Cocke were absent.

One other resolution failed to be approved during the February meeting, but rather than an outright no, the commission voted to send it back to the budget committee for review. Resolution 14-02-2025 would have given $5,000 to the Friends of White County Animals for the purpose of being used for spaying and neutering cats in White County. With possible new information coming to light, although it was not specified in the meeting what that information was, the commission voted 8 to 1 to have the budget committee review the resolution before presenting it to the full court again.

Resolutions that were passed included the Annual Approval of the County Road List, an update to the building permit fees in White County that will align them with standards and regulations set forth in the 2018 Code Council, and establishing a property reappraisal cycle that would set a continuous five-year cycle rather than the current six-year cycle.

White County Board of Commissioners also passed a resolution to request the 114th session of the Tennessee General Assembly to allocate one half of the real estate transfer tax to the county where it was collected. Currently, the state of Tennessee imposes a 37-cent tax for every $100 of value. The purpose of the tax is for the privilege of publicly recording documents for all transfers of real estate. The commission is requesting that the state give half of that tax back to the county to take pressure off local property taxes and allow the county to invest in infrastructure and services.

The next meeting of White County Board of Commissioners will be 6 p.m., March 17. All county meetings are open to the public, with the full court meeting being livestreamed on the county commission’s YouTube channel.