Blount County committee advances $256.6 million budget, holds property tax rate at $1.59

At a Blount County Budget Committee meeting, members voted unanimously to send the recommended fiscal 2025–26 tax rate, appropriation resolution and capital outlay priorities to the full county commission for review, while approving several targeted budget increases for schools and county facilities.

The committee voted to send a tax-rate resolution that keeps the county's property tax rate at $1.59 per $100 of assessed value. "This tax rate resolution is presented with no property tax increase. It is still at a dollar 59, this, same as last year," said Brian Baldwin, Blount County finance director. The committee also approved a $2,185,501.60 appropriation for new K–12 science textbooks and a $35,808 general services capital appropriation for painting stairwells at the Blount County Justice Center; each measure was moved to the commission workshop for further consideration.

Why it matters: the committee's actions set the recommended allocation of local revenues and program priorities that the full commission will consider. Baldwin said the proposed budget relies on continued "natural growth" in property and sales tax revenues rather than a property tax increase; he also warned that spending of federal ARPA funds is reducing investment returns available to the county.

Revenue and major drivers: Baldwin told the committee the county is proposing no property tax increase and is using the trustee and property assessor's updated value for the "penny" (the revenue value of one cent of the tax rate), which rose from $671,500 in the March letter to $675,400 while staff worked on the budget. He reported year-to-date increases through April of 3.3% in property-tax revenue and 4.4% in sales tax, with gasoline tax up 1.7%. Baldwin said returns on investments are down from last year largely because the county has drawn down one-time ARPA funds for projects including Eagleton Ballpark and waterline work with South Blunt Utility.

Appropriation highlights and personnel changes: the committee was presented a recommended county appropriation totaling $256,600,000. Baldwin said overall appropriation is lower than last year mainly because ARPA funds previously included in the budget are now committed or spent and because the general-purpose school fund includes no budgeted fund balance this year. The proposed operating-budget items explicitly mentioned for the general county fund include a 1.7% step on the county's compensation plan plus a 2% cost-of-living adjustment; sheriff's office real-time operations director salary and software; recovery court job reclassification; two judicial commissioner positions; EMT training equipment and stipends; animal center uniform increases; property-assessor reappraisal data processing; a 4% increase to Parks and Recreation's prior allocation; and continued multi-year jail-lock replacements at the justice center.

Schools: Baldwin said the school board and county staff collaborated on a package of school investments that includes about $4.2 million for certified salary increases, roughly $2.5 million for new teacher-aide and English-language-arts positions, $500,000 for transportation increases, and a discretionary fund to cover bus monitors and professional development that requires school-board approval for use. He presented comparative data from the Tennessee Department of Education showing Blount County spending per student at $12,900 compared with the statewide average of $12,600 and a lower student-teacher ratio (14.2 versus 16.4 statewide).

Public comment and concerns: Cindy Stewart of District 5 spoke during public comment, warning of shrinking federal support: "there are a number of projects and funding initiatives that President Trump is now passing down to the state and local levels with no additional funding being provided," she said, and urged the committee to consider that change as it finalizes the budget.

Votes at a glance: the committee recorded unanimous votes (4'0yes) to send the following items to the commission workshop or otherwise approve referral: - Resolution 25-05-001: budget increase for schools, $2,185,501.60, for purchase of new K'12 science textbooks (mover: Commissioner Anderson; second: Commissioner Bridal; outcome: approved to send to commission workshop). - Resolution 25-05-003: budget increase, General Services capital, $35,808, for painting stairwells at the Blount County Justice Center (mover: Commissioner Bridal; second: Commissioner Anderson; outcome: approved to send to commission workshop). - Tax-rate resolution 25-06-01: set tax rate at $1.59, no property-tax increase (mover: Commissioner Bryant; second: Commissioner Anderson; outcome: approved to send to commission workshop). - Fiscal Year 2025'26 appropriation resolution: proposed total county appropriation $256,600,000 (mover: Commissioner Anderson; second: Miss Hannam; outcome: approved to send to commission workshop). - Fiscal Year 2025'26 capital outlay priorities: prioritized capital requests to be returned for individual appropriation requests (mover: Miss Adam; second: Commissioner Bridal; outcome: approved to send to commission workshop). - Approval of April meeting minutes (mover: Miss Hannam; second: Commissioner Bridal; outcome: approved).

Next steps: committee members and staff said these measures will be available for public review; Baldwin noted the county's public hearing on the budget process is scheduled for Thursday, June 12, at 6 p.m., immediately followed by the regular June meeting, when the commission will consider sending a final budget recommendation to the full commission. "The fact that we've been able to do that on the existing budget just speaks volume for the hard work that you all have put in," the mayor said, acknowledging collaboration between county staff and the school board.

The meeting included procedural items (removal of an agenda item for lack of information) and multiple unanimous procedural referrals; no final appropriations or tax-rate changes were adopted at the meeting itself — the committee forwarded its recommendations to the commission workshop and the commission for consideration.