Commission adopts budget, tax rate
HUNTSVILLE — Most Scott Countians will not see a tax increase in 2008.
That’s the result of action taken last week by Scott County Commission, which passed resolutions to levy a property tax for Fiscal Year 2008-2009 and to adopt the FY 2008-’09 budget in a special session at the County Office Building Tuesday.
The property tax rate for the fiscal year was set at $1.97 per $100 assessed value, the rate certified by the state after property reappraisals earlier this year. Inside the Oneida Special School District, the state-certified rate was $2.21.
Both resolutions passed by a 9-3 vote, with Commissioners Alan Reed and Leonard Bertram absent, and Commissioners Joel Newport, Ernest Phillips and Clyde Zachary dissenting.
Budget Committee Chairman Jeff Watson called the budget “a good budget,” adding, “I think it was very clear that we were going to adopt the certified tax rate (meaning there would be no new revenue for the county to work with). There were a lot of tough decisions to make. There’s not a lot of fluff in this budget.
“Everybody thinks you can cut something, but when you sit across the table from someone and tell them you’re cutting their department, it’s tough,” Watson added.
However, some commissioners warned of over-spending.
“It’s very hard to continue doing what we’re doing with the money we have,” Commissioner Paul Strunk said. “We’ve increased positions and increased salaries. These are recurring and we’re relying too much on the ambulance service revenue.”
In dissenting, Phillips said, “We’re going to have to tighten our belts a little bit.”
Zachary agreed, saying, “When times get lean we’re going to have to get lean with them. It’s as simple as that.”
Newport, meanwhile, said that he voted against the budget “because there’s a lot of things going on I disagree with.
“Most of it I can vote for, but a few of them I just can’t,” he said, adding that the Budget Committee had done a good job with the budget.
Both Watson and Strunk warned of inevitable tax increases in the years ahead as school projects currently being discussed at Burchfield and Robbins are undertaken.
Prior to the start of Tuesday’s called session, Sheriff Anthony Lay addressed commissioners, responding to earlier complaints from some commissioners that the department’s new Dodge Charger patrol cars were being used for the department’s K-9 units. Lay said that the new cars were protected by “dog cages” that would protect the interior of the cruisers from the smell and hair associated with transporting canines, allowing the cruisers to be used by road deputies in the future.
“During the campaign, I said modern law enforcement and that’s what people elected me on. This is modern law enforcement,” Lay said, adding that his K-9 officers — Kris Lewallen and Danny Phillips — had two of the three cars with the highest mileage among the department’s fleet of vehicles.
“We’re treating all of our people equal,” Lay said.