Hamblen County mayor outlines FY26 draft budget, warns of $4.6 million gap and reassessment impact

County Mayor Chris Cutshall presented the fiscal year 2025-26 budget overview to the Budget Committee on Monday, describing a draft that assumes current revenue levels and warns of a roughly $4,594,000 gap under present assumptions.

“What you have is draft 1. It doesn't mean that's the end of the day,” Cutshall told commissioners as he introduced the compilation of department requests and recommended adjustments. The mayor said the document is intended as a starting point and that departmental presentations and further committee work will refine the figures.

Cutshall told the committee the county began the year with about $16 million in general-fund balance and that, as presented, the proposed FY26 budget would leave an estimated fund balance of roughly $11.4 million as of June 30, 2026. The presentation attributes staff additions and operating costs for the new Justice Center, vehicle and capital requests, and the loss of one-time offsets for school resource officers as drivers of the deficit. He identified a roughly $1 million reduction in expected sales-tax receipts in the coming year compared with earlier growth years and said the county is waiting on the certified property-tax rate that will follow a five-year reassessment.

The mayor summarized the reassessment numbers presented to the committee: assessed real property value rose from about $1.7 billion in 2020 to an estimated $2.7 billion in the current reassessment; the county will receive a certified rate from the state after appeals and equalization and the commission should expect reassessment-driven changes in the tax rate. Cutshall cautioned that the reassessment does not automatically mean higher taxes for property owners because the certified rate will be adjusted; he said elected officials should be prepared to explain the process to constituents.

On compensation, Cutshall provided examples of cost estimates for a cost-of-living adjustment: a 3% across-the-board COLA for county employees (excluding some enterprise funds) would add roughly $443,000 to the budget; the sheriff's department separately requested a 10% increase for its employees, which would increase personnel costs if approved. The mayor also noted the draft does not yet include any negotiated or pending salary-study adjustments.

Other highlights: the proposed budget includes requests for additional courthouse and court clerk staff, probation court services (previously funded by grants), five SROs not covered by current grant funding (the presentation cited $425,000 in local cost for SROs outside state grant offsets), and vehicle and capital purchases across departments. Cutshall said sanitation and highway funds are drawing on reserves for equipment replacement and that the county's debt-service fund remains healthy.

The mayor asked commissioners to review the materials, bring questions to the committee, and participate in a Saturday budget workshop scheduled to continue departmental presentations and finalize recommendations ahead of reassessment results. No formal budget vote was taken at the meeting; the presentation was an informational first pass and committees will return with refined numbers and proposals.