News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Pickett County Commissioners voted seven to five to approve fixing the tax levy at $2.41 for the 2021-2022 fiscal year at their meeting last night.
This amount is the same as the previous levy. County Executive Carey Garner said they ear-marked five cents for construction at the county jail.
“It had a certain amount of money in it, which I don’t know it when we took office, so we’d never really been adding anything to it,” Garner said. “Which, really the county wasn’t financially able to do it, but this year we put five cents into it to help whenever we do get ready to build the jail.”
The county also added a nickel to debt services, raising the number to seven cents to the dollar.
The board of commissioners also took a look at the financial reports for the general fund, solid waste, debt services, capital projects, and school funds. The county’s general fund revenue came in at some $4.5 million, with expenditures at around $3.5 million. Garner said he believes that Pickett County’s budget will be in good shape, so long as they don’t experience many shortfalls throughout the year.
“We get the biggest portion of our money from the tax payers off property tax,” Garner said. “That’s pretty much all that we’re guaranteed, with our sales tax that can go up or down. So we’re looking good right now so far.”
In other business, the board approved the fire department’s purchase of 24 new breathing apparatuses as well as the agreement to purchase emergency equipment from vendors at a contract bid price. Reports came in from Pickett County EMS, Sheriff’s Department, and Transfer Station.
EMS reported a total of 105 calls for the month of May, and that the department is seeing an increase in call volume. The Transfer Station reported that they are averaging 80 tons of cardboard a year, and that scrap metal loads are increasing which could see an increase of money into the county. Sheriff Dana Dowdy said they currently have 22 inmates incarcerated, with 20 in Fentress County and two in Overton County.
The commission also approved some budget amendments, including a $20,000 nutrition program, and an additional $11,893 for summer school funding to cover transportation costs.
