Sevier County budget committee approves 2023–24 budget while deferring fire-protection line item
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Summary
Sevier County's Budget Committee approved the 2023–2024 fiscal-year budget June 13, 2023, including a 6% pay raise and updates to emergency-service pay steps, but agreed to hold the Fire Protection line item out of the budget until the Intergovernmental Committee reviews it.
Sevier County Budget Committee members approved the county's 2023–2024 fiscal-year budget during a June 13 meeting, adopting proposed pay increases and several operational investments while temporarily excluding the Fire Protection line item for further review.
Mayor Larry Waters presented the draft budget, which included a 6% raise for county employees and a 3% increase in base salary. Vice Mayor Bryan McCarter and Sheriff Michael Hodges described an updated step-plan pay rate intended for emergency-service personnel. Committee members recorded that an initial motion to accept the budget “as it was presented” passed, and a subsequent motion approved the budget while excluding the Fire Protection line item until the Intergovernmental Committee could review that specific item.
Director Joe Ayers told the committee the capital program in the draft budget includes a new Emergency Operations Center and a new flood-monitoring system. Director Rick Valentine and Assistant County Mayor Brooke Huffaker said the increase in the ambulance service "Contracted Services" line item reflects a TennCare allotment for ambulance transportation, which they characterized as driving higher contracted-service costs for the coming year.
Commissioner Jack Parton urged that the Fire Protection budget not be finalized until the Intergovernmental Committee reviews the order and scope of that line item; the committee voted to hold that portion out of the approved budget pending that review. Commissioners Warren Hurst and Gary Cole moved and seconded the motion to approve the remaining budget; the record states the motion passed unanimously.
The committee closed the budget discussion without a final, full-year appropriation for fire protection pending the Intergovernmental Committee's review. The record does not list a numerical vote tally for the budget motions; it records only that the motions passed unanimously. The county will proceed with the presented personnel pay changes and the capital items described while the Intergovernmental Committee examines the fire-protection request.
The committee adjourned at 2:57 PM.