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Guest column: Afterthoughts on the 2015 budget

Posted at 5:14 pm August 1, 2014
By Trina Baughn Leave a Comment

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

A lot of incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate, information has been disseminated to the public regarding the Fiscal Year 2015 city and school budgets. Such inconsistencies compound citizen frustrations as they begin to feel the impact of both bodies’ decisions. I would like to offer some clarification along with supporting resources, which will also be hyperlinked within my website, trinabaughn.com.

First, let me address the claim that council is “not supportive” of our schools. I assure you that each and every one of us actively supports the education of Oak Ridge children with both our private and public contributions of time and money.

Furthermore, when factoring in debt payments, council allocates roughly half of all property taxes toward our schools. In fact, there are only four other communities in all of the state that out fund Oak Ridge at the local level. And even though council did not increase the tax rate this year, we did increase funding to the schools by over $500,000 due to the high school mortgage obligation shift. And contrary to claims that funding levels have been flat or declined, a simple comparison from 2005–2014 shows that total school spending has increased from $42.3 million to $55.5 million.

Second, both city and school representatives are guilty of understating their employees’ history of pay increases. City employees have received pay raises four out of the last five years. Teachers, too, have received raises every year of the last five years. The range and form of those raises is worthy of further discussion, and I intend on broaching the subject in our next joint Council/BOE meeting. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: BOE, city budget, council, debt payments, high school mortgage, Oak Ridge, pay increases, school budget, school spending, schools, tax rate, technology initiative, transportation, Trina Baughn

City recommends budget with no tax increase, Council votes Monday

Posted at 6:14 pm June 3, 2014
By John Huotari 25 Comments

Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above during an August 2013 meeting. (File photo)

Note: This story was updated at 7:40 p.m. June 4.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson on Monday recommended a budget that does not raise the property tax rate, setting up a potential conflict with school officials, who have requested a 37-cent tax increase to avoid cuts.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education already approved its budget in in two meetings last week. That budget, which was scaled back from an earlier proposal, could include an extra $3.3 million to start implementing a technology initiative known as 1:1 that would provide electronic learning devices to all students over three years, add five technology positions, and give 2 percent pay raises to staff.

But the budget is still subject to the amount appropriated to the schools by the city. Oak Ridge provides a little less than one-third of the school system’s funding.

While the schools have approved a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, the city has not. The Oak Ridge City Council will consider the municipal budget in two separate meetings this month, one on June 9 and the second on June 16. The city budget also includes a 2 percent pay raise for employees.

It’s not clear that Oak Ridge City Council members will agree to raise taxes to accommodate the school system’s request. In his budget presentation to Council on Monday, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said Council members have endorsed keeping the tax rate unchanged for the seventh year in a row.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Government, Government, K-12, Oak Ridge, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: 1:1, 1:1 devices, Anderson County, Bruce Borchers, budget, city budget, electronic learning devices, engineering, Mark Watson, mathematics, municipal workers, Oak Ridge Board of Education, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, Oak Ridge Schools, pay raises, property tax rate, Ray Evans, sales tax revenues, school board, school budget, school staff, science, STEM, Steve Jones, tax increase, tech initiative, technology, technology initiative

Guest column: Baughn’s budget recommendations to city manager

Posted at 9:38 am April 27, 2014
By Trina Baughn 28 Comments

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

The following are my 2015 budget recommendations to the city manager:

Mr. Watson,

I commend you for your willingness to reduce spending in your formulation of the Fiscal Year 2015 city budget. This approach is essential to making Oak Ridge more attractive to prospective residents and businesses.

As you know, Oak Ridge has the third highest city/county property tax rate in East Tennessee at $4.74. What you may not realize is this year, the city of Knoxville dropped below us in these rankings with a combined city/county rate of $4.71 while the majority of Knox Countians still pay less than half of our rate at $2.32.

In response to your request for council suggestions, I encourage you to set a very obtainable goal. That is, reduce our total budget by .05 percent ($90,000) and return those monies to the taxpayers in the amount of a one-cent tax rate reduction. The following are my suggestions for accomplishing this goal. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: budget, Chamber of Commerce, city budget, City Council, city manager, Convention and Visitors Bureau, CVB, Fiscal Year 2015, Kroger, Kroger Marketplace, library, library funding, Mark Watson, Parker Hardy, property tax rate, revenue, senior management, spending, staff, tax cut, tax rate reduction, travel, travel expenses, Trina Baughn, UPF, uranium processing facility

Guest column: Trying to set the record straight on the property tax rate

Posted at 1:04 pm June 2, 2013
By Ellen Smith 14 Comments

Online comments by local citizens in response to some recent guest columns about city and county budgets and taxes have revealed some mistaken notions about the way property tax rates are established in Tennessee cities and counties. I want to set the record straight regarding a couple of misconceptions about property tax that I see being spread in recent public discussions.

On the Oak Ridge Today website, citizen Andrew Howe posted a comment saying:

“The property tax rate should NEVER have to increase. It is basically a percentage of the value of the home, right? And if the value of the home rises (as it should, in line with the cost of living), then the taxes will also rise.”

I can’t quarrel with Mr. Howe’s logic, but his conclusions are wrong. This is because he makes an assumption that is valid in many states but isn’t valid in Tennessee.

Under Tennessee law, when properties are reappraised, state officials calculate—and publicize—the property tax rate that will give the local government the same total amount of property tax that it was getting from existing properties before the reappraisal. (This calculated rate is called the “certified tax rate.”) That’s the new baseline tax rate. If a local government in Tennessee wants to get more property tax revenue after a reappraisal, the governing body has to vote to increase the tax rate above the certified rate. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns Tagged With: Anderson County, appraisal, certified tax rate, city budget, county budget, Ellen Smith, Oak Ridge, property tax collections, property tax increases, property tax rate, property tax rates, property tax revenues, property values, reappraisal, tax bills, taxes, Tennessee

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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