MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Friday, June 26, 2009 11:47 am

After a contentious debate Friday morning, Rutherford County’s Board of Commissioner voted to raise the property tax rate for the second year running.

The commission voted in a 17-4 vote, with Steve Sandlin, Mike Sparks, Adam Coggin and Allen McAdoo voting against, to raise the property tax 17.5 cents from $2.56 to $2.735 per $100 of assessed value for homeowners.

The increase will add $65.63 to the yearly tax bill for the average Rutherford County homeowner with a home valued at $150,000.

Commissioner Mike Sparks started off the debate by questioning how the Rutherford County School Board spends its allocation of tax funds.

Sparks pointed out that the school board budget has increased 104 percent over the past 10 years, even though the student population has only increased 36 percent over the same time period.

He then questioned why teachers are getting raises, when hardly anyone else in county government is getting a pay raise in these tough economic times.

Mayor Ernest Burgess pointed out the commission only gives the school board a set amount of money, but the school board decides where that money goes.

Burgess and County Finance Director Lisa Nolen were very conservative in their economic projections for fiscal year 2010, but if things continue to improve, the commission may reinstate some of the raises that were cut out of the budget.

“Long term, it scares me what my children are going to face. …” Sparks said about raising taxes. “The school system, in my opinion, we need to look at getting the cost of the school system down.”

But Sparks failed to point out Rutherford County Schools is one of the lowest funded in the state, spending almost $1,000 less per pupil than the state average.

Commissioner Robert Peay defended the school board later on.

“We’re paying less percentage wise as we did 30 years ago, when my father served on this commission,” Peay said. “We cut their budget. We cut their retirement. We cut their pay. It bothers me to hear things like this.”

Later Sparks suggested the school board levy its own tax rate, so the people of Rutherford County know where the money is going, before he was cut short by Commissioner Anthony Johnson.

“It’s our tax levy we’re voting on,” Johnson said. “We’re not up here to change the world.”

In the end, the commission didn’t change the world. It only raised taxes.

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.

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.