Putnam Status Quo Budget Unveiled

The new fiscal year Putnam County budget will come in about $500,000 lower than last year’s budget with no property tax increase.

County Mayor Randy Porter proposed $40,034,718 in general expenditures during the new fiscal year. Porter said the department heads and elected officials worked hard to create a status quo budget.

“There was a team effort put forth by all the elected officials and the department heads that we reduce spending as much as we possibly could and still keep the county going,” Porter said. “If it had not been for that, it might be a different story for us.”

“There is nothing in this budget that increased unless it absolutely had to.”

The new budget includes automatic step raises for county employees. Porter said he saw it as very important that county employees understood how appreciated their work has been over the last six months.

Estimated revenues for the new fiscal year stand at $38.43 million. Porter said that includes a projected 20 percent decrease in sales tax revenue. The shortfall could be paid for with fund balance if revenues come in as budgeted.

“I am being ultra conservative because we don’t know what the future will hold,” Porter said. “I think it’s going to be ok. I think we will come back pretty quick here in Putnam County. But there’s no guarantee. There’s no way to know what those numbers are going to be coming up.”

Much anticipated April sales tax revenues will be released later this week. Porter said the revenue hit goes further to revenue from courts and other county services that have been impacted. Property tax revenue looks relatively flat. Porter said the fact it did not go negative is amazing considering the number of homes lost in the tornado.

The capital improvements plan includes some $4,215,000 in priorities Porter wants to pursue in 2020. That includes the replacement of the roof at the Justice Center and Avery Trace School. It also includes phase two of the Cookeville High School roof replacement. Porter also said he wants to fund technology upgrades at the Jail and Justice Center.

Porter said he would likely not begin any capital projects until mid-year.

“If revenue’s coming in good, then we’ll go ahead with some of these,” Porter said. “If it’s not, then we won’t.”

Porter said an additional $2 million in capital projects as part of the county’s five-year capital plan would only be considered if revenues increase.

Commissioner Jim Martin said the budget looks reasonable. Thanking the department heads for their work, Commissioner Dale Moss said the group answered a lot of budget questions at a difficult time.

The budget committee began its work later than normal. Porter said he wanted to wait as long as possible to get as much data as possible. Committee members will study the data before coming back together next Monday to continue the work.

The budget committee re-elected commission chair Ben Rogers to lead its work. Chris Cassetty will serve as co-chair.