THE HUNTER REPORT

Loudon County Budget Committee gives nod of approval

Budget Chair Mayor Doyle Arp (l), (School Director Wayne Honeycutt), Budget Committee members Don Miller, David Meers, Chris Park, (Jason Vance, Asst. School Director), Tracy Blair, Budget Committee Secretary-Finance Director.

Proposed FY 09-10 School Budget Easily Approved  

By: Pat Hunter

August 23, 2009

At Thursday's August 20th Budget Committee meeting, the committee met to discuss the proposed school budget. There was considerable discussion that funding the proposed operating school budget in its present form may mean a property tax increase or a reduction of pennies for the proposed school building, which would also reduce the amount that may be borrowed for the school renovations and new schools without a property tax increase.

Commissioner Chris Park was concerned about taking care of present school buildings and county employee pay. There were comments about the school board raiding the fund balance to help pay for text books. Commissioner David Meers spoke about being in an economic depression and cutting back spending.

Commissioner Don Miller voiced his concerns about funding the school budget and he shared some stats about past school funding. Miller made a motion to send the budget back to the school board but he received no second on his motion. Instead, the Budget Committee voted 4 to 1 to recommend sending the proposed FY 09-10 school budget to the full commission. A motion was made by Harold Duff, and seconded by Chris Park to grant the school director his proposed school budget. Both Duff and Park reside in District 5. Voting YES: Mayor Budget Chair Doyle Arp and Commissioners Harold Duff (D-5), Chris Park (D-5) and David Meers. Voting NO: Don Miller (D-7). Surprisingly, some on the Budget Committee openly griped about hefty pay raises included in this budget, which are estimated at $10,000 for some BOE employees.

One Committee member suggested that the Budget Committee also look into giving pay raises to the finance director and purchasing director after the Budget Committee examined the pay scale for the planning director estimated to be in the mid $60,000 pay range.

Senior citizens just received some bad news from the federal government regarding their social security checks. Seniors for the first time in history will see their social security checks shrink for the next two years. According to the AP wire, "By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly."

Will seniors show their dissatisfaction with the politicians at the voting polls in August 2010? Only time will tell, if seniors agree with local politicians doling out pay raises while the pay checks of seniors shrink!

Some on the school board say that the county fund balance is estimated to be $8 Million while the Finance Director estimates the fund balance to be between $6 Million and $6.5 Million. Until the auditors finish the audit sometime next spring, your guess is as good as theirs.  

A property tax freeze has not been passed by county commission even though the County is sitting on a healthy fund balance estimated to be between $6Million -$8.5Million. See below for a complete list of counties and cities that adopted a tax freeze for seniors. 

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08-24-2009