The Cannon County Budget Committee met Tuesday night after they thought they had come up with a solution to fund the expenditures by increasing the wheel tax $20.00 and earmarking it for the county general fund the week before. During the discussion of raising the wheel tax, County Executive Mike Gannon explained that the recommendation of raising the wheel tax sticker would have to go before the full Cannon County Commission and pass by two thirds Commission vote on two separate regular meetings. That meant that if the wheel tax recommendation did pass through the Commission it would not be able to be considered part of the revenue as all county budgets in the State of Tennessee have to be adopted by August 30th and it would take the September meeting for the wheel tax to be approved by the Commissioner if it was approved at all. On top of that the wheel tax increase could eventually end up on a voter referendum if certain conditions are met meaning that it could not be until March 2015 until it is ultimately passed during the next voter election. All that means is the State Comptroller’s Office would not accept the budget under those circumstances as the county would be playing with a what if situation in order to fund the budget. CTAS official Ben Rodgers who oversees 13 counties advised that the State is wanting every county to build and maintain a healthy General Fund Balance. Rodgers said that the State considers a fund balance to be at least 9 percent more than the ending fund expenditures which in Cannon County’s case is estimated to be $456,000. Total estimated expenditures for the County at the end of the 2015-2016 fiscal year is expected to be $5,042,781.00. The General Fund Balance at the End of this fiscal year is $141,770.00 estimated with the excess of estimated revenues and other sources estimated to be a -$286,252.00 makes the estimated ending fund balance on June 30th -$144,482.00. With the information Mr Rodgers gave to the budget committee this means that in order to get the fund balance to at least where the state would like it to be, the fund balance would need to be funded for $600,000. After going around the table several times and making comments and trying to figure out a solution, the committee decided to make a recommendation of a 19 cent property tax increase. Each cent brings approximated $20,000 of revenue which would bring in a total of $380,000, giving the county a fund balance at the end of the 2015-2016 fiscal year an estimated roughly $236,000.00. The State might allow this as the County would be showing a plan to build a healthy fund balance to where the State says it should be. The Commission will also consider the wheel tax and if voted on and passed during the August and September meetings and with no other road blocks in the way the property tax could possibly be lowered the 13 cents next fiscal year that the wheel tax would take the place of. The Cannon County Commissioners will vote on these issues in their next regular monthly meeting Thursday August 6th.
