A ‘necessary evil’ for Loudon City

Alyssa B. Martin news-herald.net

Loudon City Council unanimously approved a 9.07 cent property tax increase during the Monday, June 24, meeting. This increase is the fourth occurrence of its kind in 40 years.

As the fiscal year begins for each of the Loudon County municipalities, difficult decisions have been made across the board — most being uncomfortable and unpopular.

However, Loudon City Mayor and Interim City Manager Jeff Harris deems this increase as an inevitable outcome in light of the current economy and what the city has planned.

The new rate is $1.19 per $100 assessed property value.

“I know nobody likes tax increases, but it’s a necessary evil,” Harris said. “We’re a municipality. We have services to provide for our customers. With those services, we get affected by inflation. We get affected by a lot of different things.

“I know everybody is struggling in their own household and that kind of thing,” he continued. “We have the same kind of struggles, you know, with fuel prices, with everything. So you put it off as long as you can, and then you just finally have to make some adjustments.”

THE PLAN

According to Harris, the city has outlined a 10-year strategic plan that assesses each of the city’s assets, including their life span and any unforeseen issues that may occur.

The plan includes funds allocated for an asphalt assessment program, stormwater mapping, creating an engineering and planning department for current planning and long-term planning.

“We feel like it’s justified just because of our budget,” Harris said. “We were not going to have a balanced budget if we did not pass a tax increase. We were going to have to dip into our general fund.”

Currently the city has $7.7 million in the fund balance and plans to add to it during this 10-year timeline. Harris said for the past three years, money, in the amount of millions, has been taken out of the fund balance to cover unforeseen expenses that weren’t allocated in the budget.

City Recorder Melissa Huskin is responsible for putting together the budget each year. She starts in December with communication with each department head telling her their wants and needs for the upcoming year. Countless hours are spent adjusting and readjusting the budget to fit the necessary needs of each department within the city.

The City of Loudon is also instituting a generous 4% raise to all full-time employees to cost of living adjustments.

Many projects are in the works for Loudon — and for many of them, the city is undergoing studies and assessments to see where taxpayers money is best allocated.

Taking into consideration the last Loudon tax increase was for six cents in 2018, it’s apparent officials are cautiously considering other options to pay for residential services like grants.

Looking ahead, Harris and Huskin both reiterated it’s important to maintain a healthy general fund, in case of a natural disaster or increased inflation in coming years, and aspire to maintain a $7 million to $10 million balance in the fund at any given time.

Regarding the latest in the city manager search … during the June 24 Loudon Utility Board Meeting, representatives agreed to invite Timothy Ibisch for a public interview at the Loudon Municipal Building at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 22. Community members potentially have the opportunity to meet Ibisch before or after the meeting; however, public comments aren’t open during the meeting.

A joint LUB and City Council meeting will take place following the public interview at 5:00 p.m. where each entity plans to discuss their opinions on the current candidates and next steps.