Rocky Top sets meeting for Monday to approve budget, with no tax hike
A nearly full house of residents watches and listens during last Thursday night’s City Council meeting at Rocky Top City Hall. (photo:G Chambers Williams III )
Council members earlier this month approved the budget on first reading, with no increase called for in the city’s property tax rate.
There will be an increase in water rates in the new year, although that has not yet been finalized.
“Water rates are going to go up every year,” Mayor Kerry Templin said during last Thursday’s regular June council meeting.
City workers will get raises in the new fiscal year, according to the preliminary budget that has already been OK’d by the council.
The preliminary budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year projects total revenues of $2,774,965, and total expenditures of $3,160,764.
• Revenue includes $1,476,400 in local taxes, along with $1,133,955 in state taxes, plus other sources.
• Expenditures include $1,068,033 in salaries, up from an estimated total of $944,298 in the current fiscal year ending June 30. That’s for 28 full-time employees, up from 26 in the current fiscal year.
The beginning fund balance (cash on hand) is estimated to be $912,718 as of July 1, with an ending balance of $526,919 on June 30, 2024.
A public hearing will be held on the proposed budget at 9 a.m. Monday, followed by expected approval of the spending plan during the special meeting, on second and final reading.
“The numbers worked out” to allow for raises for city workers without having to raise the property tax rate, Templin said.
In other business during last week’s meeting, the council:
• Approved a salary of $60,000 a year for new City Manager Mike Ellis, retroactive to his appointment to the role in May. He had been serving in the role on a temporary basis on an annual salary of $55,000. Templin said the salary needed to be adjusted upward to reflect the salary level included in the city’s advertisement for a new city manager.
• Passed a new rental policy for the city Community Center, which requires that renters sign a contract that specifies rental rates and rules. Previously, renters did not have to sign anything to use the center.