Ful Court Addresses Property Tax and Success Payments

Smith News

The County now has a budget to operate on for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, but the Full Court left some residents less than pleased. With extra money from the Waste Management deal at the landfill showing up just before the Full Court, there was no decrease in the property tax, with commissioners citing the irresponsibility of putting a one-time payment to a recurring expense. 

The County received approximately 6 million dollars in “success payments” tied to the landfill and Waste Management. $4,975,406 of that money is received this year, with the rest being received in January 2027.

Because of this, Commissioner TK Austin proposed to amend the certified property tax rate from 1.41 to 1.01, using about $4 million from those success payments. “That will be giving money back to residents of White County,” he said.

Commissioner Becky Golden brought up that this is a one-time payment, and that in the past she was told that money from this deal cannot be relied upon for certain projects and amendments since it is only one-time. “I don’t agree with dropping the tax rate one time because we’re going to have needs. We have roads. We have EMS. We Sheriff’s Department. We have everything else. If we drop this tax rate one time, and that is going to be one time, and then go right back up, there’s just something going on with it,” she said.

Commissioner Kyle Goff said, “Every single year we turn away departments that desperately need items. We’re talking about covering deficits. Here’s the funds. We’re talking about increasing the debt service. Here’s the funds. This is nothing but a sabotage of the next administration. One-time funds to drop property tax 28%, knowing that next year we will have to do the largest hike in White County history.”

Executive Denny Wayne Robinson addressed the commission next, saying, “We have been asked for a couple years now, ‘Where is the Waste Management money? Where is it at?’ Well, I got an email just before the last budget meeting, saying it looked like that we was going to get around 6 million dollars. I didn’t bring it up at the budget meeting because I didn’t have it confirmed. I got confirmation on it, and I sent the email out. This was an investment by the taxpayers. I feel the taxpayers should get some relief from this money… It’s not intended to sabotage anybody. It’s intended to give back if y’all deem it appropriate to do that.”

Commissioner Chris Brewington asked, “How come every time we get money, we’ve got to spend it? Spend it on something, something, something. It don’t make no sense.”

Commissioner Roger Mason said, “There’s nine of us that are not returning. This is an election year. Nine of us are vacating, and there’s going to be at least nine new commissioners. It feels irresponsible to make a decision that affects something this big on the way out and set the next group up for trouble.”

Now that was a lot of quotes from Commissioners, but how did the amendment go? It failed.

Commissioners TK Austin, Robert McCormick, and Lanny Selby were the three who voted yes for the 1.01 tax rate. Everyone else voted no.

TK Austin then put forward another amendment, to instead lower that property tax to 1.21, to use less of the four million. 1.21 could be carried for around three years before the success payment fund dries up.

Commissioner Robert McCormick said, “We had to up property taxes, and we got a lot of flak with that. So now the money’s here, so why not at least lower that down somewhere where it was before we had to raise it?”

Chairman Derrick Hutchings responded, “I’ve always been taught since day one, do not take single income lines and spend it on reoccurring expenses.”

This amendment also failed, with the same voting record as before.

The vote to keep the property tax rate at 1.41 passed, however, with TK Austin, Robert McCormick, and Lanny Selby voting no. The other commissioners all voted yes.

After a few more votes for appropriations of funds of the budget as a whole, the county was at least able to walk away with a passed budget for the next fiscal year.