|
Initial OK given to $2.67 tax rate
September 21, 2006
HUNTSVILLE — By a 10-4 vote, County Commission Monday night approved a $2.67 property tax rate and adopted the 2006-2007 fiscal year budget on first reading.
A second and final reading will be held in a special called meeting set for Thursday, Sept. 28 at 4:30 p.m. at the Scott County Office Building here.
The tax rate approved Monday night was four cents higher than had been agreed on by the commissioners during a lengthy budget work session held two weeks earlier.
The General Purpose School Fund was increased from the Budget Committee’s proposed $1.12 rate to $1.16, after an explanation and appeal made by Scott County Director of Schools Mike Davis.
Davis had originally requested a minimum of $1.19 tax rate to meet the state-mandated “Maintenance of Effort” to fund local schools, but said he felt the Board of Education could get a workable budget with the $1.16 rate, although cuts would have to be made, including some projected capital expenditures.
The Board of Education, which recessed rather than adjourned its meeting Thursday night, will be called back into session Wednesday to finalize its budget and send it back to County Commission, Davis said.
As approved Monday night, Scott County’s property taxpayers will have to deal with a 26¢ increase in the tax rate this year, which marks the first increase in seven years.
In addition to the General Purpose School Fund of $1.16, the County General Fund will be 59¢, the General Debt Service Fund will be 36¢, and the Rural School Debt Service Fund will be 56¢.
That $2.67 rate will apply to all taxable property lying outside the Oneida Special School District. Property owners within the school district will have a $2.89 property tax rate.
County Mayor Rick Keeton explained that while property owners inside the Oneida school district do not have to pay the Rural School Debt Service tax, the district has its own Debt Service Fund, thus the difference in the inside and outside tax rates.
Early on in the discussion on the county’s budget Monday night, 3rd District Commissioner Joel Newport made a motion to earmark $2 million of a $2.8 million fund balance in the County General Fund to go toward retiring the debt of building the Scott County Justice Center.
After a second to Newport’s motion by 2nd District Commissioner Clyde Zachary, a lively discussion commenced, with several commissioners pointing out that those funds, from a lease payment by Attentus Healthcare for the Scott County Hospital, had been set aside in the event that the county has to get back into the hospital business at some point down the road.
Finance Committee Chairman Mike Slaven, a commissioner from the 7th District, said that there was a “general consensus” among the commissioners that some of the money would be used for the initial expenses of the justice center (in advance of a bond issue to retire the debt), but he didn’t see the need “to tie it up like that.”
Ron Blevins, 6th District commissioner, said he felt the commission didn’t need to earmark the money for any project, but “keep it in the fund balance . . . [and] deal with that later.”
Both Newport and Zachary expressed the desire to earmark the money for the justice center in order that it would not be used, little by little, for other projects and not be available to ease the burden on the taxpayers when the bills came due on the multimillion justice center complex.
Dennis Sexton, of the 4th District, asked Newport if his motion would prevent utilizing some of the funds in case of an emergency, or if the money needed to be used to keep the hospital open.
During the midst of the discussion, which was obviously going nowhere, 3rd District Commissioner Ernest Phillips called for a question on the motion, which immediately ended the debate and resulted in a roll call vote of the commissioners, which failed by a 6-8 margin.
Voting for the motion were Newport, Zachary, Watson, Leonard Bertram, Rothel Cross and Odeva Byrd.
Voting no were Sexton, Phillips, Blevins, Slaven, Willie Boyatt, Gerry Garrett, Alan Reed and Paul Strunk.
Also, before the vote to approve the tax rate, Commissioner Blevins moved that the budget be approved as submitted by the Budget Committee, of which he is a member. That recommendation was based on a $2.63 tax rate, with $1.12 being for the General Purpose School Fund.
Blevins’ motion failed by a 4-10 vote, with the only aye votes being cast by Blevins, Zachary, Watson and Byrd.
In other budget-related business, the commissioners:
• Heard from County Trustee Jimmy Byrd who stressed the importance of getting the budget approved in a timely fashion in order to: 1) get the tax bills out; 2) allow his office to be able to offer property taxpayers a 2% discount during the entire month of October, and a 1% discount in November; and 3) help the county’s cash flow and, hopefully, prevent having to issue tax anticipation notes.
Byrd pointed out that around 50% of the property tax receipts in Scott County are paid during the months of October and November. He also told the commissioners that if the budget was approved tonight, he felt he could begin mailing out tax statements by the first Monday in October; and,
• Heard reports directly related to the budget from both the Scott County director of schools (Davis), and Henry Baggett, director of schools for the Oneida Special School District. During the course of that discussion, it was revealed that a $1.16 tax rate for the schools is expected to generate $1,631,772, with approximately a third of that amount going to the Oneida schools (based on student enrollment figures).
news@ihoneida.com
Enjoy the Independent Herald? Have it delivered to your door! Click here for details.
| 
