Why not look at counties with comparable population an see if we are in line with employees in each county dept.If not find out why.
Sounds like a project the new Audit Committee should take up. The five countues directly below Cannon in population are Decatur, Lewis, Bledsoe, Stewart and Grundy. The five directly above are Sequatchie, Crockett, Benton, Polk and Wayne.
Now, if some of those counties have more employees in a particular county department, does that mean we should match them?
I guess if they had more the next question would be,Do they have a neopatiosm law.
As was said several years ago "One Thin Dime"! This year it will be Two Thin Dimes!! Commissioners do the right thing! You are charged to do what is best for Cannon County not what it takes to get re-elected!
As one commissioner said"We can't run the county like a business." My question is "Why NOT?" Companies that face short falls in revenue do lay off, scale back and do whatever it takes to just stay in business. Just as commissioner Bush suggested that they do. We all are having lean times right now and just as the federal gov't is finding out, you cannot spend your way out of it. Does anyone not listen to Dave Ramsey!!!
The commissioner who said that also provided the reason. Businesses can refuse service if someone does not have the means to pay for it. There are certain services government must provide regardless of one's ability to pay.
Another comment made during the meeting is worth noting. Someone stated they didn't have any kids in the school system and didn't care about education, implying that they shouldn't have to pay taxes to support education. Providing education is not an option for a county government. It is mandated to do so. Parents with children in the system can't by themselves afford the service. It must be a shared sacrifice by all taxpayers of the community.
Why is property taxes always the first option?
I'm a homeowner with no kids in school. I don't mind supporting our schools and kids' education; but, I don't understand why the homeowners are always the ones to pay. Are there not other options that would cover more people-therfore, bring in more money?
The easiest answer to that question is because it is easier to get 10 commissioners to agree to raise the property tax than it is to get 8,000 voters to approve a referendum to increase the sales tax.
How about the idea of combining schools and saving that money? Why is that not on the table or at least being discussed as an option?
It would save money, reduce the need for a 20 cent tax increase, keep us from doubling up on the teachers and making them teach multiple classes and make better sense in the long run.
I am not priviliged to the financials of each school and was told that there was no budget for each individual school, but common sense should tell us combining the schools is the best option we have to solve some of this problem.
I've been living in Cannon Co. all my life and I hadn't ever seen Property taxes fall they are always on the rise and as far as the jail how many State inmates are being housed there why hadn't they been sent to the State pen and it wouldn't cost as much to operate the jail,I still beleive we need and Audit performed and see were all the property and wheel tax money is going....
Hey Corey the commission would like for the Board of Education to combine the schools that is maybe why it is not a option or on the table. I do not think that the BOE wants to do that.
You are probably right redmolly, I just wish everyone would see the light and understand the population of Cannon County and the amount of revenue we have coming in will no longer support six grammar schools.
Especially when at least three of them could be combined over time to save millions of dollars.
Oh well, it will come soon enough. When we go bankrupt because we have held on to sentiment for the last 50 years we will understand the need then.
It seems to me that if the wheel tax was raised, everyone would share is a piece of this pie. Property owners are the first ones the county looks at, everytime they need noney. I'm not priveliged to know what our county pays. There is the option of them taking a pay cut. I worked for a major corporation for many years. When things got tight we took pay cuts and did not recieve bonues. We even gave back some of the benefits to help. Could that be an option here? Are these folks really concerned about the well being of our county of are some just wanting to collect their paychecks?
ladyreader I am glad to see you are looking for ideas and solutions.
I would say that I don't think the county employees would be an option to help this situation for a couple of reasons.
#1 They haven't had a raise in almost four years, so there isn't much to give back.
#2 If you knew how bad their benefits were to begin with (i.e. insurance for example) you really wouldn't want it back anyway.
#3 There aren't enough of them to offset what is needed unless you eliminate all of the positions completly. Then you lose service almost entirely because most of the elected officials and departments only have two employees to begin with. If you eliminate one then who is left to run the office when the elected official is off work?
Lastly, the wheel tax is already set at $75 of which the county receives $50 to pay for the new grammar school (WGS). How much more can we stand?
Property taxes are always looked at first because there is more people who own land than there are people who drive cars.
However, I appreciate your thoughts and ideas!
No budget or financial data for individual schools hard to believe!Would the open records laws force the BOE to at least provide records of utility payments (gas,elect.,water)for each school? If the Cannon co. taxpayers were aware of the true cost of keeping the doors open at two to three inefficient grammar schools in the county I feel public outcry would win out sooner than later! Redmolly; the bus already comes over the hill twice a day with just a handful of highschool students!
VOTE EVERYONE OUT IN THE NEXT ELECTION> GET A NEW DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS> VOTE IN PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN INVOLVED SOMEWHERE BESIDES CANNON COUNTY AND HAVE SEEN BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS!! Maybe all this just comes down to voting in cousins and brothers and sisters. REPLACE ALL THOSE WHO DON't KNOW WHAT TO DO AND START WITH A CLEAN SLATE> Sounds good to me anyway!! LOL :)
Maybe it is time that we had a finance officer for the county.Some one with out his on agenda.One person to answer to the taxpayers.Also I think we should look into getting out of the trash business or a least making it pay its on way.If we have to cut the hours so be it.open 4 days a week 10 hours a day would save a lot.Also work with the sheriff to get the prisoners back that way we should be able to operate the dump with one employee an one part timer.Also all elected officals should look a there office an decide how they could save money,The money tree has quit growing an the taxpayers have had enough.It is time quit looking after friends an family an look after the people that put you in office.
Corey, You have hit the nail on the head with some of your comments, but the commissioners cannot force the BOE to combine schools, that has to be their decision. But, if our commissioners had the backbone to cut their budget by 400,000 they would have no option. Also, one commissioner said that he was advised to raise the property by 5cents every year and we would have plenty of money. That's easy to say if you have never worked in a factory that undervalues it's employees! What are harvest festivals for anyway??? Or cookie dough???? Or candy bars???
ftenpenny, the county has a finance officer. In fact, there are at least 17. 10 county commissioners. 5 school board members. 2 citizen representatives on the budget committee. 15 of them are directly answerable to the taxpayers. Hiring yet another person is not going to reduce expenditures any more than what those 17 people can do.
Again, it is not difficult to read the budgets for the county and schools and ascertain where the money is going. One can easily visit the courthouse, the sheriff's department, the schools, the election office, the convenience center, the senior center, the Health Dept., the REACH building, the UT-Extension Office, the Highway Department, the ambulance service for a first-hand view.
A hired finance director would not answer to the taxpayers. Only elected officials answer to taxpayers.
I AGREE WITH JUNEBUG18!! As a matter of fact, that's just what I did in the last election!! Voted against everyone already in office. I looked at it the same way she does, we need new people with new ideas and new opinions!
Here is an idea. Why not create a system of reward for departments who come in under their budget instead of punishing them by taking away what they did not spend for the year. By doing so it could end up putting money back for a rainy day instead of come the end of the fiscal year they are all rushing to spend all their budget. It could also mean that waste would go down.