Anderson Commission unanimously approves budget with small tax cut

Note: This story was updated at 1:12 p.m. June 18.

CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission unanimously approved a budget that cut the property tax rate by one-third of a penny on Monday.

It was a small but symbolic gesture, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said when she proposed the move, and commissioners endorsed it, during a special meeting last week.

For now, officials have resolved an impasse over whether there was enough money to cover the cost of new jailers hired in the past year by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for a jail dormitory that is already open—and to pay for more than 30 new jailers needed when a 212-bed addition opens later this year or early next.

Anderson County Commissioner Myron Iwanski gave credit to Sheriff Paul White for being able to raise additional revenue by housing state prisoners and helping the county fund new jailers for six months.

“If the sheriff hadn’t raised his board bill, we would be facing a tax increase right now,” Iwanski said.

But the county will be in a similar tight spot next year unless it can generate additional revenue, possibly by renting out 50 or so beds to federal inmates, Iwanski said. The county collects more per prisoner when it houses federal inmates than it does housing state inmates.

All 16 Anderson County commissioners voted for the budget during a regular Monday night meeting at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

The property tax rate reduction of about one-third of a penny will lower the rate to $2.347 per $100 of assessed value in Oak Ridge, $2.50 in Clinton, and $2.529 in Lake City, Oliver Springs, Norris, and Anderson County. Anderson County Commissioner Steve Mead has said the tax cut would save the average homeowner between $1 and $1.25 per year.