Rocky Top gets ‘clean’ audit report for 2024-25
Mayor Kerry Templin, second from left, conducts the Rocky Top City Council meeting on Thursday, Jan. 15, at City Hall. Others present are, from left, Councilmen Joe Tackett, Keith Daniels and Richard Duff. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The report was made by auditor J.R. Cates of the accounting firm Mitchell Emert & Hill of Knoxville.
He termed his report as a “clean, unmodified opinion,” adding that there were “no internal-control findings.”
“There were no issues throughout the audit,” Cates said, adding that it was completed on time, by Dec. 31, as required by state law.
Property tax receipts climbed to $2.5 million for 2025, up from $2.3 million for 2024, he said.
The city ended the year with a fund balance that increased by $228,000 from the previous year, Cates said.
Expenditures increased for the year, but mostly because of capital expenditures that were covered by grants, he said.
In other business Thursday, the council:
• Passed on first reading Ordinance 617, which would require developers of new commercial property to install so-called “Knox Box rapid-entry systems” on their buildings to allow emergency services to gain access during times when no one is present at the business.
Property owners will be responsible for buying and installing the lockboxes, and there could be fines of up to $500 for failing to do so, according to the proposal.
• Heard from City Manager Mike Ellis that a new traffic signal at Fourth Street should be installed by the end of this year. He said it’s waiting on the state Transportation Department.
• Learned that the city Planning Commission had received plans for a group of new businesses to be built next to the KFC restaurant just off Interstate 75 at Exit 129, which would include a car wash, restaurant and medical office.
• Set a budget workshop for the 2026-27 fiscal year to be held at City Hall at 4 p.m. on Feb. 10. The council normally has several workshop sessions before finalizing the new budget, which will go into effect on July 1.
