Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson is scheduled to present the municipal budget proposed for the next fiscal year during a City Council meeting on Monday.
The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. You can see the agenda here.
The meeting will be in-person, rather than a virtual meeting, but city officials said they will use appropriate social distancing.
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The Anderson County Commission will discuss the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, and a possible 18.25-cent increase in the property tax rate on Thursday.
The special meeting is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 27, in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
The meeting will focus on the budget proposal, and it will include time for elected and appointed officials, as well as department heads and citizens, to address the Commission with comments and concerns about the proposed budget.
[Read more…]The Oak Ridge City Council will consider the municipal budget and a proposed two-cent tax rate increase on Monday evening, June 3.
The two-cent tax rate increase would raise the property tax rate from $2.54 per $100 of assessed value to $2.56. It would be the second tax rate increase in the past two years after about a decade of no tax rate increases.
Each cent on the property tax rate generates about $80,000 in revenue.
The city’s general fund is about $26.2 million, and its total budget, including all funds such as school funds and utility funds, is roughly $210 million.
The budget has to be considered in two readings, or meetings. Tonight’s vote is the first reading. The second and final reading will be on Monday, June 10.
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Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will present the proposed budget for the next fiscal year in a special meeting this evening (Tuesday, May 28).
The special Oak Ridge City Council meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue.
The next fiscal year starts July 1.
The Oak Ridge Schools budget approved in the first of two readings, or meetings, on Wednesday does not request a property tax rate increase from the City of Oak Ridge.
There is also no request for an increase in the “maintenance of effort” funds, the amount of money that, once appropriated, has to continue to be funded year after year.
But school officials would like, if they are able to get it, an increase in capital improvement funds, money that could be used to fix and improve buildings but wouldn’t be recurring. No number has been attached to that request, but school officials would like the Oak Ridge City Council to consider it. During Wednesday’s meeting, the school board discussed ways to “get past conversation,” possibly with a collective effort, roundtable discussion, and comprehensive plan.
[Read more…]The Anderson County Commission will have a special budget meeting on Monday afternoon. The meeting is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Monday, May 6, in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
During the special meeting, the Anderson County Commission will review the recommendations of the Budget Committee, discuss them, and then send the Commission’s recommendation’s back to the Budget Committee.
[Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Meeting in a special-called session on Monday, the Anderson County Finance Committee voted to accept the resignation of Natalie Erb as the county’s finance director, effective May 23.
The Committee also voted to name Robby Holbrook, who is currently deputy finance director in charge of payroll, as the interim finance director upon Erb’s departure.
The third piece of business taken care of on Monday saw the Committee vote to authorize the Human Resources Department to begin the search for a new finance director by modifying the job description to incorporate the duties of the county purchasing agent.
[Read more…]The Oak Ridge Board of Education will meet in the following special-called meetings to discuss the Fiscal Year 2020 budget:
The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in December 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider a budget with a proposed two-cent increase in the property tax rate and what would generally be a 2 percent pay increase for employees.
If approved by Council, the tax rate change would be the first increase in years. Oak Ridge Today reported that the budget approved last year was the 10th one in a row without a tax rate increase.
The two-cent increase in the property tax rate, which would raise it to $2.54 per $100 of assessed value, would help fund the bond repayments for the new Oak Ridge Senior Center, Scarboro Park renovation, and Oak Ridge Preschool, and also provide the city some “breathing room,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. The Senior Center, Scarboro Park, and Preschool projects are expected to cost about $13 million total.
Municipal officials said there has been a $750,000 shortfall in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, in revenues from Roane County. That shortfall is attributed to some sales tax exemptions, and it is believed to mostly be from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the major taxpayer in the Roane County portion of the city. The shortfall affected Oak Ridge this year and has been resolved this year, but the city had to use reserves, which affected money that could be used for capital projects in the next fiscal year, fiscal year 2019, which starts July 1, Watson said. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
City and school officials will present their fiscal year 2019 budgets to Oak Ridge City Council in a special meeting on Tuesday.
The Oak Ridge Board of Education budget, which has already been approved by the school board, will be presented by Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers and Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer. The city has typically provided a little less than 30 percent of the school system’s funding.
The proposed municipal budget will be presented by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Board of Education has a public hearing and first reading of the budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, tonight (Wednesday, May 16).
The special meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Oak Ridge Schools Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.
The school board had a line-by-line review of the budget on Monday, and the fiscal year 2019 budget was presented May 8.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory
There has been strong interest in a voluntary separation program that could reduce the workforce at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by up to 350 positions, but the lab still has to review applications and finalize who qualifies, a spokesperson said Wednesday, the deadline to apply.
The laboratory is still in the middle of reviewing the applications and determining who qualifies, said Morgan McCorkle, ORNL communications media manager.
The workforce could be reduced by up to 350 positions through both voluntary and involuntary separations.
“We still expect to use both mechanisms,” McCorkle said.
The 350-position reduction would decrease the workforce of 4,800 employees by about 7.3 percent. The workforce reduction, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, was announced by ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia in an August 8 email to employees. [Read more…]
