Board of Mayor and Aldermen adopts 2025–26 budget, approves tax increase and directs staff to work with schools on crossing guards

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen adopted Ordinance 16‑51, the city’s fiscal 2025–26 budget and tax rate, on third and final reading after public comment and a series of amendments and votes. The measure passed in the final roll call 6–1, with aldermen approving a property tax change the administration said is intended to fund road maintenance and building needs.

Why it matters: The budget increases recurring funds available for repaving and public‑safety equipment while also proposing a property tax increase the mayor said will be dedicated in part to road paving and to address the municipal building’s needs. The board and public commenters focused much of the meeting on the consequences of moving responsibilities between the city and other local entities — most prominently the proposal to shift school crossing guards from the city budget to Tullahoma City Schools.

Hank Jordan, director of business for Tullahoma City Schools, read an email from the school director noting the district could not absorb a sudden transfer of crossing‑guard duties on short notice. “The most pressing concern to me is the safety of students,” Jordan told the board, and spelled out the personnel, payroll and training steps the district would need to take before it could assume the program.

Alderman Auburn Bird proposed that staff begin coordinating a transition of crossing‑guard responsibility to the school system but not remove the program’s funding from the city budget immediately. Bird framed the item as a multi‑month transition, and the board asked staff to work with the schools to create job descriptions, identify funding lines and set a timeline. City staff told the board they could begin planning immediately and that a target of late September was realistic given school staff availability. The board left the crossing‑guard appropriation in place for now and directed staff to coordinate…