County commission passes budget,
but not without opposition
By Thomas Wilson
STAR STAFF
twilson@starhq.com
Vigorous debate is said to be a good thing in
government.
The Carter County Commission passed the 2002-2003
fiscal year budget Monday night but not without opposition
from a few commissioners who felt the budget was not clear
on some expenditures.
County commissioner Tom Bowers moved the commission
table voting on the budget until new commissioners could understand
more aspects of how the county was spending money.
"I don't understand it. I've heard from other
members of the commission, and they can't understand it,"
Bowers said of the county budget. "I would like to pass on
voting until all the items can be explained and some department
heads can explain their budgets."
Bowers questioned salary appropriations in several
county offices and various budget items including travel expenses
of the Assessor of Property's office and the county's cost
for copier services.
Specifically, he asked why the county executive
salary of $81,000 had been carried over from last year to
this year.
County Attorney George Dugger explained that
each elected official had his or her salary set by the state
of Tennessee. The commission could make the decision to pay
additional money to the county executive if it saw fit.
Each elected official currently made the maximum
salary allowed by the state, said Dugger.
Bowers said that while he understood the explanations
of salaries and services, he felt the budget document did
not accurately reflect some aspects of county expenditures.
"The budget as it is does not represent the way
things are," said Bowers.
The 4th District commissioner recommended the
commission take up budget workshops to clarify the budget.
Budget Committee Chairman Wayne Holtsclaw pointed
out that the county's budget is required to be submitted to
the state by October 1, leaving little time for a wholesale
re-examination of the budget.
Commissioner Bill Armstrong moved to table Bowers'
motion to delay the budget vote. Armstrong's motion was narrowly
approved by the commission by a margin of 13-11.
Commissioner John D. Snyder also asked why the
county's industrial development agent received $35,000 from
the county and who selected the industrial agent.
Bowers' budget inquiries were essentially halted
when Commissioner Charles Bayless raised a parliamentary point
of order to call for a vote on the budget.
Dugger ruled the point was in order and the commission
took up the vote on the budget. A turn-of-events that did
not sit well with Bowers, who said he was prepared to ask
questions until he had answers.
"Are you going to rule (Bayless' motion) was
in order if we are going to be here until midnight, but if
I'm going to finish in 10 minutes are you going to rule it's
not in order?" Bowers asked Dugger.
The budget proposal passed the commission by
a vote of 17-5-2 with commissioners Snyder, Bowers, Terry
Montgomery, Chuck Culler and Amos Stevens voting no. Commissioners
Al Meehan and Jim Whaley passed on the vote.
County Executive Dale Fair advised the commissioners
they needed to have confidence the county's financial affairs
had been properly managed.
We have to have some faith that the previous
Budget Committee did their work, and that the previous county
executive did his work and move on, said Fair.
The county's property tax rate stayed the same
at $2.22 on each $100 of taxable real and personal property
under the budget.
The general fund budget came in just over $8
million with expenditures totaling roughly $292,000.
The Highway/Public Works budget came in at $3.39
million and the general purpose school fund budget totaled
$29.6 million.
The property tax rate appropriated $1.24 to the
general purpose county schools, 68 cents to the general fund,
22 cents to debt service and 8 cents to the county highway
department.
County employees and department heads will also
receive a three percent cost-of-living pay raise on their
current salaries as part of the 2003 budget.
In other business, the commission also approved
a new franchise agreement with Comcast Cable. The 10-year
agreement requires the cable company to extend cable services
in the county areas where 20 homes were located within a one-mile
area.
The contract stipulated that the five percent
franchise fee received by the county would be paid quarterly
instead of annually.
The county receives approximately $50,000 annually
through the franchise agreement with Comcast and roughly $40,000
from a franchise contract with Charter Communications, Dugger
told the commission.
Comcast has 2,408 customers in Carter County,
according to Russell Byrd, area manager of Government Affairs
for Comcast.
Commissioner John G. Lewis questioned the length
of the contract and also asked Byrd why the company had not
done a feasibility study on extending services across the
county before proposing their franchise renewal.
"This is a chosen service -- it is not a service
you have to have," said Culler, chairman of the Cable Committee.
"We've lowered the term to 20 homes, and I feel with the adjustments
we've made, we can get more cable in the county."
Byrd said the company originally wanted a 15-year
contract but had agreed to the 10-year agreement. The contract's
length reflected the company leverage to fund its long-term
investment in capital construction.
He added that Comcast had invested millions of
dollars stringing fiber optic lines and additional system
equipment throughout the county and region.
The commission also elected four new members
to the Financial Management Committee. The committee was created
in June to select a county financial director and provide
oversight to his department.
Committee Chairwoman JoAnn Blankenship was re-appointed
by the commission. She will be joined by Culler, Robert Davis
and Al Meehan, who were selected to the FMC.
The meeting was Fair's first as county executive.
He was elected chairman of the county commission by a 16 to
8 vote over Culler, who was nominated to the post by Snyder.
Holtsclaw was elected vice chairman of the commission.
