RuCo Commission to vote on tax increase Friday morning on The Murfreesboro Post

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RuCo Commission to vote on tax increase Friday morning

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 1:44 pm

Local homeowners will probably pay more in taxes in the near future with a property tax increase on the horizon.

Rutherford County’s Budget and Finance Committee meets Wednesday to review the final budget for FY 2010 and make a recommendation to the county commission, which will vote on the subject Friday morning.

The county needs the extra cash to plug a more than $2.4 million hole in its $390 million budget, with shortfalls in many funds, including the general, solid waste and sanitation, and school budgets.

In order to plug the hole, the county will need another 17.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, County Finance Director Lisa Nolen said when she broke the bad news earlier this month at a public presentation and hearing for the fiscal year 2009-2010 tentative budget.

The proposed increase will bring the county’s current tax rate of $2.56 to $2.735, adding $65.63 to the yearly tax bill for the average homeowner with a home valued at $150,000, Nolen said.

Broken down, the increase will add 3.5 cents for Rutherford County Schools, 4.25 cents to the county’s general fund, which includes public safety departments like the sheriff’s office and county jail, and 9.75 cents to the newly formed ambulance service’s special revenue fund.

The school board asked for a 3.7 percent budget increase over last year, mostly to fund growth, the opening of Browns Chapel Elementary School in the Blackman Community and about 70 new jobs.

In the county’s general fund, 10 jobs have been cut, only one of which is currently filled. Three jobs have been added, two Student Resource Officers and a veterinarian to perform spays and neuters at PAWS with no net increase to the budget.

The 4.25-cent tax increase for the general fund is needed mostly to fund “significant increases” in utilities, retiree health care benefits and property tax relief programs.

The county has also seen significant decreases in revenues from taxes and fees associated with growth and building.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.

Tagged under Budget, Lisa Nolen, RuCo

Member Opinions:

By: Macgyver on 6/23/09
Kick me while I'm down!

By: SocEtTuem on 6/23/09
What is the taxpayer to do? Can he/she tax her employer to make up the difference? Maybe it's time to start dumping some of these mopes we reelect year after year after year and start electing some people who understand enough is enough. People who can actually put together a coherent sentence as well as a sound and frugal fiscal policy. People who have the intestinal fortitude to say no to every demand for more. If an item has to go, it has to go. That is true for all of us who earn those dollars the politicians believe it is their right to confiscate. I'm tired of paying and paying and paying everytime some politician pleads we need more. NO MORE.

By: mck3491 on 6/23/09
Why can't the county do what everyone is having to do: refigure the budget and cut out the frills. I am sure there are many out there. We all have to live within our means. If the commision, in addition to all the other groups doing it, takes more of our personal money, we simply won't have any left!

A few normal/logical realists on the board would be a blessing for all county residents!

By: RonB on 6/24/09
I'll be voting against all incumbants from now on (for all the good it will do). The county is flush with cash. The problem is not money coming in, it is spending!

By: hamrtyme on 6/24/09
I'm not an ignorant person but can someone please explain to me why I have to pay city & county taxes & the county homeowners only pay county taxes. Except for garbage pick-up & maybe a couple of other whatnots, we ALL use the same roads & have the same rights. Will someone please help me understand? I pay an extra $500. to $600. a year for what? I always vote out the incumnants.

By: Farmall on 6/24/09
I encourage all to appeal their property tax appraisal if it goes up one penny in this "down" market.