| Before reading any further, remember the
county plans to raise your proper taxes in August and the
commission and the board of education would like for you to vote
for a $50 wheel tax.
According to the annual year end report issued
by the Loudon County Trustee's office, Loudon County government
ended the 07-08 fiscal year with combined fund balances of
$24,625,788.00. That's twenty-four
million six hundred twenty-five thousand seven hundred
eighty-eight dollars.
The fiscal year ran from July 1,2007-June 30,2008. This includes
county government and the Loudon County Board Of Education. The
massive fund balances can be attributed in part to the recent
boom in development and high property assessments but mostly to
the enormous property tax increase passed by the Loudon County
Commission three years ago.
In 2005 the commission narrowly, by one vote,
passed a 21% property tax increase. This was the largest tax
increase in the County's history. The commission passed the tax
increase on what turned out to be erroneous financial advice
from a representative of The County Technical Assistance
Service, CTAS, who had given dire estimates on the county's
financial position. All of the projected short falls turned out
to be wrong. Unfortunately, the tax increase cat was already out
of the bag.
There are some notable revenues this year.
- On the money in the bank, our tax
dollars, the county earned $1,590,689.00 in interest.
- The combined balances in the three drug
funds is now $327,296.00.
- The county paid the Lenoir City School
System $4,835,458.00.
- Total property tax collections for this
year, $23,436,199.00.
- Total Adequate Schools Facility Tax
collected, $400,015.00.
- Hall Income Tax Revenues $963,825.00.
- Total county sales tax collections
$8,605,559.00
Below are the funds and balances. Links are to
trustee's reports. (PDF)
Looking first at the County Government end of
the hall, the general fund 101ending
fund balance is a whopping $5,488,192.00. This is the
fund used for all general government operations.
The Law
Library fund, 114, finished with $13,230.00.
The
Convenience Centers, fund 116, finished with $438,008.00.
The sheriff's department's
three drug funds
also did well with fund, 122, ending at $232,228.00, fund
128 $23,870.00 and the Metro Narcotics fund, 363, which
was to have been dissolved several years ago finished with
$71,198.00.
The county
debt retirement fund, 151, totaled $1,685,791.00.
This fund is used to make payments on the county's debt.
The county
capitol projects fund, 171, had $1,779,656.00. This
fund is used to fund building type projects.
The Center
75 maintenance fund, 370, ended with $25,059.00.
The County
Highway Department, fund 131, finished with
$844,397.00.
The Solid
Waste Commission, fund 207, has $2,519,727.00. This
fund is exclusively for the future operations on the county land
fill. This fund balance is generated by land fill tipping fees.
The City
Schools ADA, (average daily attendance) fund, 355, had an
ending balance of $179,443.00. This fund is used to
handle the county's portion of funding for the Lenoir City
School System. This year the county paid the Lenoir City School
System $4,835,458.00. This funding is mandated by the
state to pay the cost of county children attending Lenoir City
schools.
The Roane
State Career Center maintenance fund, 357, was at the bottom
of the barrel with only $62.00 left over.
On the Board Of Ed's end of the hall, things
are a little rosier then some accounts have reported.
The school's
general fund, 141, ended with $2,570,101.00. This
fund is used for many of the general BOE operations.
The two
federal projects funds, 142 and 143, ended respectively with
$174,754.00
and $17,603.00.
The school's
debt retirement fund, 156, finished with $5,318,463.00.
This fund is used to make payments to the county to retire
school debt.
School
capitol project fund,177, ended with $3,244,006.00*.
This fund is used to fund building type projects.
* Includes a three million dollar loan for
maintenance issues. |