Coffee County departments present 2027 budget requests; libraries, health and buildings seek targeted increases

At a Coffee County Budget & Finance meeting, department directors presented 2027 budget proposals that emphasized personnel costs, rising technology prices and facility maintenance needs.

Courtney, representing the Coffee County Library in Tullahoma, asked the county to approve a 5% salary increase for full-time staff while raising part-time pay to $15 an hour. Courtney said the library is seeing a sharp rise in printing demand since an OfficeMax closure and asked for funding for a second Canon printer and contract; she also budgeted about $2,000 for annual carpet cleaning and said materials spending would move closer to the level-4 guideline (from just under 12% this year toward about 13%). "We are hoping to get an additional printer since there's so much traffic to the 1 printer that we have," Courtney said, and she described a tech-grant need for an off-site server of roughly $1,900 per library.

Melissa, who presented the solid-waste budget, said the department mostly copied its current budget but added modest increases tied to operations: the sanitation board approved supplemental pay increases ($1,200 and $750 for two staff members), the department hired a part-time truck driver to ease scheduling, and vehicle maintenance was increased by $10,000 because several trucks are approaching 10 years old. Melissa said crushed stone for concrete pad work at new convenience centers was raised from 1,000 to 7,000 (Benton Bartlett at the Highway Department estimated about 12 truckloads). Melissa also updated the board that the concrete pad at the department's old facility was poured and mentioned a rumored Dollar General near that site. She confirmed a compliance task must be completed by June 30.

Araceli Castillo, county director of the Coffee County Health Department, said most medical-personnel line items are reimbursable by the state and that the department's 2027 budget had few changes. Castillo raised utilities funding (line 452) from $14,000 to $18,000 in anticipation of a new, larger facility and corrected a tobacco-fund line item (the amount as stated in the transcript was unclear). When asked whether a newly announced physician would be paid from the county budget, Castillo said the doctor is a state position and "it won't cost the county anything." She outlined tobacco-cessation and nicotine-replacement programs the department runs in schools and for pregnant people who want to quit.

Polly Vaughn, director of the Manchester Public Library, said her request aligns with neighboring libraries to maintain equitable pay; she listed eight part-time positions and about nine full-time staff and proposed an overall increase of about 6.72%, driven largely by rising IT costs and the same off-site server expense Courtney described. Vaughn asked the city of Manchester to consider raising its contribution from $20,000 to $25,000.

Rick, speaking for County Buildings, asked for a 3% pay increase for his employees (not including himself) and requested a new part-time hire to reduce overtime and cover absences. He reported reductions in the building-maintenance line because several roofs have been replaced recently (senior center, sheriff's bus garage, maintenance garage, CCAP) and said preventive maintenance should reduce future repair spending; he also outlined plans for a Justice Center roof and further work on library roofs.

No formal motions or votes were recorded during the presentation segment. The chair closed the presentations, thanked presenters for keeping to the 15-minute limit and scheduled a continuation at 5 p.m.

Next steps: the Budget & Finance group will consider these departmental requests during its budget review cycle; presenters and staff may be asked to provide additional line-item details and cost estimates.