Property Tax Increase?
| The county commission budget committee is continuing
the process developing the new budget for 2019-2020. In the process, the
committee reviews each elected official or department heads budget
requests and meets with with those if needed. Last Tuesday, the
committee met with sheriff Tim Guider and chief deputy, Jimmy Davis, to
review their requests. Sheriff Guider is responsible for the sheriff
department and the jail budgets.
The jail budget request includes an additional 36 new employees. Guider told the committee he had a study from CTAS that recommended this many new employees would be needed to staff the new jail. There are currently 30 jail employees. The sheriff department budget includes 6 new employees including, 3 new patrol deputies, 2 new SRO officers and a new court officer. The sheriff's department currently has 54 employees. The new budget also seeks more than a hundred thousands in raises for current employees. Guider stated that the raises were needed to prevent losing existing employees to Lenoir City and other jurisdictions. For the upcoming budget, Sheriff Guider is asking for a total increase in his two budgets of $3,518,405.00. If the request is met, it would require more than a twenty cent property tax increase. The budget committee will continue the budget review process through April and May with a final recommendation to the full commission in June. |
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