See below for Smith County Mayor Jeff Mason’s March 2021 County Commission Report.. You can follow Mayor Mason on Facebook and see reports on the Smith County Government’s website at https://smithcotn.com. You may also view the full March Commission meeting here
Opening Remarks
A big thank you goes out to all the departments that did their jobs and did them well during the weather events in the past few weeks. Departments worked together on many separate issues to ensure that citizens’ needs and safety were taken care of.
Governor’s Money
We are looking at some building improvements and vehicle maintenance with the remaining amount of the governor’s money.
Baker Property
We are still working through the best options for moving forward with the property.
Salary Study
Thompson and Associates is compiling data from comparable counties. The goal still is to have this done by late April.
2020 Census Data
Census data has been pushed back to September or October. This is going to make the process and timeline very short in getting this done.
COVID-19
COVID-19 numbers continue trending down from the peak around the New Year’s holiday. Demand for vaccinations continues to be strong. The Health Department started a new appointment software, and the transitioning to Phase 1c caused a few headaches in getting all the appointments booked. The Health Department is now using the Ag Center complex for vaccinations and testing. Moving to the Ag Center gives them more room to test and administer vaccinations efficiently.
Actions taken by the County Commission on 3-8-21
- Budget Amendments
- Two Bridge Dedications in memory of Stanford Maynard and Phillip Evitts.
- The commission passed a resolution and will be sending that resolution to the legislature to keep certificates of necessity for local hospitals as law. This makes sure our local hospitals remain able to offer services that keep them financially stable and in business.
Budget Discussions
Budget hearings began last week for the 2021-2022 budget.
As we begin budget hearings, I presented my goals for next year’s budget. I will summarize them below.
In 2019, we passed a significant property tax increase. I do not know one person that was happy about what had to be done. Twenty-five cents of the increase was set aside to build a fund balance of three million dollars in 3 years.
We have been realistic with revenue projections and tried to be good stewards of the appropriated funds. By these actions, we will hit our goal of three million in 2 years. I have asked the Budget and Finance Committee to reduce the property tax collection amount by one million dollars in the next budget. We asked you, the citizens, to pay more to meet this goal. You did, and now it is time to reduce that amount from the tax rate.
Goal number two is to pay off all short-term debt at the end of the 2020-2021 fiscal year. We refinanced our long-term debt through a bond sale in December. This reduced years, interest, and the amount needed to service debt each year. There will be a surplus in the debt service fund that should pay off all short-term notes. I am asking the commission to give their approval to pay this debt off this year.
Goal number three is to reallocate 5 cents of property tax from debt service to the capital projects fund. This will allow us to fund capital project needs every year at approximately four hundred thousand dollars. This fund will enable us to maintain our vehicle needs for police and emergency services without borrowing short-term debt like was done in the past. It will also allow funds to provide large repairs to buildings when those needs arise.
Thank you for allowing me to be Mayor of the greatest place in the world!
Jeff Mason
