Rocky Top OKs $3M budget
The Rocky Top City Council meets here at City Hall. The council approved the new fiscal-year budget in a special session here last Tuesday, May 27. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The new budget, which passed Tuesday (May 27) on a 4-0 vote on second and final reading, includes 3% raises across the board for the 27 city employees.
The measure did not include the tax rate for the new budget year, which can’t be set until the city gets its certified rate from the state Board of Equalization.
That’s necessary for the city to keep its property tax collections for the new fiscal year at the present year’s level despite an Anderson County property reappraisal this year that raised property value assessments significantly.
The certified rate provided by the state takes into account the average increase in property values, so as to make the reappraisal close to “revenue neutral” for local governments as required by state law.
City Manager Mike Ellis said the city might not get the certified rate from the state until July or maybe even August, and the tax rate will be set after that, in time for tax bills for the new year to go out as scheduled.
Projections in the new budget are for property tax collections of $1.58 million, compared with $1.57 million in the current fiscal year, according to the budget ordinance approved on first reading by the City Council on April 17.
In the new budget, the city plans $3.025 million in general fund expenditures for the new year, against expected total revenue collections of $2.774 million. The spending plan includes capital expenditures that would be offset by grant money.
Other 2026 revenues are projected to be $820,409 from the state, $20,676 from the federal government, and $353,000 from “other sources,” according to the new budget.
These amounts do not include utilities, which are covered by a separate budget.
Among the planned expenditures are $994,878 in salaries for the city’s employees, which includes the raises.
The city is using a combination of grants and State Revolving Fund loans to pay for massive sewer repairs.
Ellis said the SRF loans come with a 40 percent “forgiveness,” rate, which means the city would have to repay only 60 percent of what is being borrowed.
The vote to approve the budget was not unanimous, as new council member Joe Tackett abstained.
