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Hamilton County clerk requests 0.4% budget increase, cites high title-and-tag volumes and kiosk pilot
Summary
County Clerk Knowles asked the budget committee for a 0.4% increase ($10,006.46), described heavy title-and-tag transaction volumes, a pilot kiosk in Hixson Food City and seven vacant positions, and said his office remitted more than $2.63 million in excess fees last year.
Hamilton County Clerk Mister Knowles told the county budget committee he is seeking a 0.4% budget increase — $10,006.46 — and said his office will not request additional staff this year.
Knowles said his staff budget covers anticipated benefits and salaries, that the office remitted “over $2,630,000 in excess fees” last year, and that seven positions remain vacant. He described high service volumes and a kiosk pilot intended to reduce downtown traffic.
The request, Knowles said at the committee hearing, includes no new permanent hires. “We remitted over $2,630,000 in excess fees last year. We'll work hard to do the same,” he said. He added the office currently has about 55 deputy clerks and “probably the most trafficked office in local government in both city and county.”
Knowles supplied transaction counts: “Last year, we had 497,000 title and tag transactions… about 320,000 vehicles were titled and registered.” He said the office processed “more than 61,000” of those through Internet and mail channels and processed “over 10,000 driver's license transactions.” Knowles also said his office installed a kiosk in the Hixson Food City, placed there at no cost for the county, that “saves some people from coming into town” though “it's not doing as well as I had expected.”
On intergovernmental work, Knowles said he contracted with the Department of Safety to issue driver’s licenses for the county and that the clerk’s office issued 81,400 stickers for the city of Chattanooga last year, generating “over $400,000 that we collected for the city of Chattanooga.” He cautioned that a tariff situation in Washington had affected some fleet sales and that a large buyer’s purchase “fell through.”
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about postage and kiosk performance; Knowles said postage increases were partly offset by recent legislative changes that allowed higher mail fees and by new credit-card fees the office began collecting. Commissioners praised the clerk’s staff and asked the office to explore expanding the kiosk pilot to Ooltewah.
The presentation contained operational details rather than formal committee actions; the committee did not take a vote during the hearing.
Knowles closed by thanking staff members he named and by reiterating that the office intends to continue returning excess fees to the county.
