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Clarksville work session explores fees and accounting moves to close budget gap
Summary
Town leaders proposed several revenue and accounting options — including a $5 monthly trash fee, a small fire-hydrant charge, reappropriating unused prior-year funds and PILOTs — to address an estimated multi-million-dollar shortfall and to shore up police and fire funding.
Town staff and council spent much of a June 16 work session outlining options to address what the town manager described as a roughly $2 million budget gap and to protect operations against the impacts of state changes under SB 1.
Manager Glenn Adams and Clerk-Treasurer Sherry presented accounting measures (seeking to reappropriate about $1,277,000 of unspent prior-year appropriations) and a menu of new or restored modest user charges, including a proposed $5 monthly trash fee for municipal pickup, a possible fire-hydrant fee (roughly $3.70 monthly per household as quoted in the meeting), and other measures (probation user fees, take-home-vehicle charges). The manager said these steps were being considered only after broad cuts were reviewed and that staff view some fees as necessary to maintain services and fund capital replacements.
Councilors discussed the distribution of funds, the option to keep utility-street-cut revenues in a nonreverting fund, and how to structure charges (for instance by applying to all customers receiving municipal pickup). Several councilors emphasized that any fee should be transparent and tied to specific services or capital needs. One councilor said he would rather see cuts than tax increases but accepted the need to explore modest fees; another urged clear public communication that fees would pay for equipment replacement and service continuity.
Fire leadership warned of deeper funding stress in the fire territory: the chief said the fire territory closed 2025 with an approximate $190,000 negative balance after the December deposit and that current net exposure is roughly $2.8 million negative; staff said an additional town withdrawal could push the shortfall to about $3 million prior to the June deposit. The chief urged priority on capital and operational support for apparatus replacement, air packs, radios and protective gear.
Manager Adams also proposed a range of longer-term tools (special local-option sales tax, PILOT arrangements and careful budget authority thresholds for manager sign-offs) to create a more sustainable capital-improvement program.
