Cocke County adopts 2025–26 budget, restores $16,000 to property assessor after debate over floodplain duties and staffing

Cocke County commissioners on Tuesday adopted the fiscal 2025–26 budget and set the county tax rate at $1.4993 while voting to restore $16,000 to the property assessor’s budget that had been earmarked to fund a newly created floodplain administrator position.

The vote followed more than two hours of public comment and commissioner discussion that focused on the budget’s effects on local farmers, a potential loss of a 25‑year University of Tennessee Extension employee, and whether floodplain administration should be removed from the assessor’s office or funded from county reserves.

Why it matters: The budget preserves the certified tax rate below $1.50 and, after an amendment, returns the $16,000 to the assessor’s budget rather than leaving that amount to the new floodplain administrator’s funding line. Commissioners said the decision was made to avoid a tax increase in a county still recovering from recent floods and to preserve services; opponents said the cut would harm an already small assessor’s office and that growing property values risk pricing out longtime residents, including farmers.

County Mayor said the budget committee "has been able to present a balanced budget to the county, which does not raise taxes, [and] has a tax rate below a dollar 50," noting use of federal ARPA-related matching waivers and…