Commissioners in Williamson County will hold a public hearing this afternoon on a budget meant to raise an additional $20 million.
The commissioners are eying a property tax rate increase of about 22 cents. This comes as Williamson County officials just completed a property reappraisal.
Even after three years of a depressed real estate market, the land in Williamson County had appreciated, grown more valuable.
Under state law, the county can’t bring in more money because of the reappraisal – the tax rate has to be reduced. What Williamson County wants to do is return to the old rate, which would in effect be a tax increase.
Budget Director David Coleman says move would bring in an additional $20 million and the county needs the revenue. Coleman says even though real estate sales are down, the population continues to grow, with more than 850 new students expected in county schools. He says the unusual buildup in public school enrollment dates back two budget cycles.
“We felt like two years ago that a large amount of the growth in students was due to families having to take their children out of private schools and put them in public schools, just for economic reasons. Some of the same thing, maybe, from home schoolers — and maybe the moms had gone back to work and the kids have gone back to public schools.”
Williamson County is one of the few districts in the state with high average incomes, low unemployment, and a strong commercial tax base. But Coleman says that doesn’t mean it is insulated from economic pressures.
The public hearing on the budget begins at 5:30 this afternoon at the Williamson County Annex building.
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This year’s budget is about $363 million, while the 2011-12 budget is proposed to be about $385 million.
Under state law the county tax rate would be reduced from $2.31 per hundred dollars of assessed valuation, down to $2.08 because of the reappraisal. If county commissioners vote to raise the rate back to $2.31, it will bring in the additional $20 million.
Like other counties, Williamson will have to pitch in local money to match the state-mandated 1.65 percent pay increase for teachers. But under the Basic Education Program formula, Williamson gets less than some poorer counties, Coleman says.
“…the state will not send us the full 1.6 percent. Because of Williamson County’s perceived wealth – there’s a factor in the BEP formula, the ‘ability to pay.’ So when BEP money comes down to us, we normally receive about 65 percent of what the normal county might receive, because of our weighted percentage, ‘ability to pay.’
One of the pressure points this year for counties has been local ambulance service – counties aren’t really required to offer it. Williamson has a fairly cost-effective answer, says Coleman.
“Williamson County doesn’t operate an ambulance service. Williamson Medical Center operates the ambulance service, and we make a donation to them to help run that service of about $1.9 million.”
Because counties can only tax things that the state allows them to tax, county officials were concerned this year with changes to the Hall Income Tax on interest and dividends. One change was to raise the exemption level for elderly Tennesseans, but Coleman says that shouldn’t have an immediate impact.
“You know there was talk of doing away with it altogether, and that would have had an impact. Because we collect anywhere from a half-million to two million dollars a year on Hall income tax. It just depends on the [financial] market, and dividends and interest.”
Coleman says the Hall Income Tax is so important the cities and counties regularly audit the system to make sure that people in their jurisdiction are credited to the proper government. That means a Williamson County taxpayer doesn’t accidentally benefit the City of Franklin because the taxpayer has a Franklin zip code.
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