Budget committee approves school budget that includes two-cent property tax request for coaches' supplements

The Budget and Finance Committee voted May 20 to approve the school system's proposed budget as presented; the package includes a request that would create $64,655 in recurring funding for coaches' pay supplements, an amount school officials said would require about a 1.87-cent increase in the property tax penny value, rounded to 2 cents for planning purposes.

School official Doctor Sheffield told the committee the additional recurring revenue is intended to raise coaches' supplements and described the amount and tax calculation: "The increase in coaches' supplements would equate to ... $64,655. At the current tax rate, that'd be 1.87¢, and I rounded it up to 2¢." Sheffield said the school board unanimously approved the proposed rates at its April meeting and presented the request to the committee for the county's budget process.

The request drew public support from coaches and community members attending the hearing. Shelly Villa, a resident in attendance, urged the committee to approve the increase and said coaches work long hours with students and families: "These people are dealing with the future ... we need to fight for our future." Several speakers described the supplements as long overdue, saying they have not been raised in about a decade.

Committee members discussed revenue assumptions underpinning the schools' request and other budget lines. Staff members provided a packet with proposed and estimated fund balances and a county penny-value series from 2018 through the 2025 proposal. Committee staff cautioned that the 2025 fund-balance figures were estimates and that sales-tax revenues can lag by one to two months in reporting. Committee members also noted an estimated $400,000 the county is currently funding above what the meeting described as the statutorily required maintenance-of-effort level for schools.

Members queried changes in state program funding. Staff and school officials said a roughly $500,000 bonus tied to the Tennessee investment in student achievement (TEASA) program accounted for an increase in one line item, while a declining ISM grant explained a drop in vocational funding from the amounts shown in prior columns. One committee member, citing the committee's work to trim other budgets, said they could not justify adding the 2-cent property tax increase this year: "I just can't support it ... this year, I just can't." Other members noted similar recent raises for county emergency services and said the committee had increased pay in multiple departments over the past four years.

A committee member made a motion "to approve this budget as presented," which was seconded; the committee approved the schools' budget by voice vote. Committee leaders said any changes the committee makes return to the school board and then come back to the county later in the process. Staff told members the school request would likely return to the committee for additional discussion late June after the board and county complete their internal steps.

The approval at the May 20 hearing permits staff to continue budget calculations using the committee's direction; it does not itself enact tax-rate changes. Any change in property tax levies or final budget adoption will follow the county's public-notice and adoption process and further votes by the board/commission and the school board as required.