ROGERSVILLE — The Hawkins County Commission voted Monday to raise the property tax rate by 15 cents and offer a cost-of-living adjustment at the rate of inflation, which is 9%, to all county employees.
Commissioners made the decision as they approved the 2022-23 budget at its Monday meeting.
The increase, the first since 2011, will cost a homeowner with a property valued at $100,000 a total of $37.50 per year.
The motion for the tax increase was made by Commissioner Hannah Speaks, who said she came up with the 15-cent figure so that the projected deficit would be manageable.
“Now the reason I’m OK with a $1.6 million deficit on the budget is because we do overestimate expenditures and underestimate revenue, and a $2 million deficit tends to be our sweet spot, and we usually end up flat afterward,” Speaks said. “So I feel like 15 cents gets our employees to where they need to be and keeps the budget in that sweet spot that should be under the break even.”
Director of Accounts and Budgets Eric Buchanan said he felt the tax increase would positively impact the budget. Prior to the tax hike, the county’s projected budget deficit was $3.2 million.
“The budget, as it stands currently, is not sustainable. We will balance from our savings,” Buchanan said. “You can only play that game for so long before you run out of savings. Something needs to be done. Everybody agreed on all the things that we’re putting in the budget this year; they were necessary; there was a dire need for a lot of it. So, if you’re going to put those things in the budget, you have to fund it. This tax increase will be a way to fund those things.”
Commissioner Jason Roach said the county can’t keep postponing dealing with its problems.
“We can’t pass a budget if we’re going to kick the can down the road for later for us to have to fix,” Roach said. “Ladies and gentlemen, some of y’all were on this committee on this commission in 2017; I sat out there when you guys voted on the wheel tax, and that was tough. That was hard, and the fact is that we had kept kicking the can down the road until that can jumped up and bit us majorly. For me, for at $144,000 property value that I have, it’s going to cost me $4.50 extra a month. That is what I’m gonna pay to be able to put my police officers at a reasonable cost of living, be able to put my 911 in a situation where they can hire competitive with surrounding counties, to be able to fund my volunteer fire departments and be able to fund my rescue squad. You know, for an extra $4.51 a month, I feel like one of those commercials that put starving kittens on their TV, that say for this many pennies a day. For me, it’s not going to cost me very much a day to make sure that my county employees that number one, serve me but number two, as a commissioner, I employee that we are taking care of them so that they don’t have to work two or three jobs.”
Roach also spoke about the federal government’s cost of living reimbursements.
“Now I know that it’s a tough time for everyone,” Roach said. “Even the federal government has recognized this is a tough time for everybody; since 2012, they’ve issued a cost of living to those that are on SSI. This year they are projected to break the record for an increase at 8%. That means since 2012 until 2022, they’re almost at a 20% increase for the cost of living for those that are on SSI. How much of an increase have we given our county employee since 2012? The sheriff’s department got 5% the year before last outside of that, what have we given them? I’m just gonna tell you, if people in Washington DC can take care of folks, Hawkins County folks can take care of Hawkins County folks.”
Longtime county resident and business owner Bill Sharp said raising taxes was necessary.
“I’ve been in Hawkins County for 53 years,” Sharp said. “I have been a business owner all those years, I’m a voter, a taxpayer, and I’m here to talk about this tax increase. I’m against paying taxes, but our county is in bad shape, and I think we need to go ahead with the tax increase. I love Hawkins County, and when I go on vacation, I can’t wait to get back to Hawkins County; we have a lot to offer people. We have beautiful mountains, a lake, recreation, golf courses and five cities, and there are a lot of miles of road, and it takes a lot of money to fund it. Right now, (Sheriff) Ronnie (Lawson) is having problems keeping deputies for the county and 911 is having problems, so I think we just need to go ahead and raise the taxes. We need all these things that the county has so we can recruit industry, and people don’t wanna come in if we don’t have good schools and protection and if we don’t fund this and we don’t pass the budget, the state is gonna come in here and do it for us. So, I recommend, and I don’t know who’s for it and who’s against it, but you’re elected to do a job, so I leave it to you.”
The increase was opposed by Commissioner Charles Housewright, who said 15 cents was too much.
“You’re dealing with a lot of people just like the city employees that’s on fixed incomes and stuff,” Housewright said.
The resolution was passed with 14 yes votes and six no votes. The new property tax rate is 2.31%, and the tax increase will bring in additional revenue of $1,803,042.95.
The commission also voted to change the 7% county employee raise to 9%. The move will cost the county an additional $174,039. The raise passed with 13 yes votes and six no votes.
A motion was made for a 12% employee raise, but it failed with five yes votes and 14 no votes. That would have cost the county an additional $473,250.
Speaks spoke out against the 12% raise. “Just keep in mind that we’re now flipping our budget right back into a deeper deficit with no way, no suggestion about how to flip it back the other way,” Speaks said.
After the tax increase and the employee raises, the projected budget deficit is $1.6 million.
Commissioner Michael Herrell said the proposed budget was unacceptable.
“I’m not voting for this budget,” Herrell said. “This is the first budget since I’ve been a commissioner that we had no cuts in. There’s not one cut in this budget. So if you want everybody to vote for this budget, let’s start making cuts.”
Register of Deeds Judy Kirkpatrick said the cuts were made years ago and the money never returned.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Kirkpatrick said. “You say we’ve not cut anything in the budget. Let me tell you something. Five years ago, you all came to us as office holders, and we cut everything possible. Any of you are welcome to come to my office and tell me where I am wasting a penny. ... There’s nobody here as an officeholder that has anything in our budget that can truly be cut. It’s not that things have not been cut; it’s the fact that they were cut five years ago, and we’ve just had to deal and then do the best we can with what we got.”