Pressured by state, county commission meets tonight

Facing a state deadline of the end of the month to produce a budget for the current fiscal year which began July 1, the Cannon County Board of Commissioners will meet at the courthouse tonight.

The meeting is scheduled to began at 5:30 and open with a public hearing.

Some of the highlights of the 2019-2020 Cannon County General Fund Budget are as follows:

Revenues are estimated to be down from the previous year (2018-2019) by $410,683.

Expenditures are expected to increase by $541,420 from last year.

The fund balance (reserve fund) at the end of the year is expected to be $898,608. That's down from the $1,291,955 on June 30 of this year.

New or increased expenditures include:

• $154,395 for the county's new Central Finance Office.

• $23,569 for the County Trustee's Office.

• $44,129 for the County Clerk's Office

• $43,876 for the Circuit Court Clerk's Office

• $4,174 for Chancery Court

• $226,318 for the Sheriff's Department

• $298,898 for the County Jail

• $23,108 for Fire Prevention and Control

Discussion by the county's Budget Committee began in January. The seven members of the Budget Committee all serve on 10-member county commission. The committee failed to produce a recommendation to the full commission. Starting with its regular meeting on Aug. 1 and continuing with a series of recesses, the commission has already met six times this month to discuss the budget.

The state Comptroller's Office, in a letter sent to the county executive and commission last week, is urging the commission to complete it's work this week. A copy of the letter sent by Sandra Thompson, Director of the Office of State and Local Finance, follows:

"August 19, 2019

Honorable Brent Bush, County Executive
and Board of Commissioners
Cannon County
Public Square
Woodbury, TN 37190

Dear Mr. Bush and Members of the Board:

As of the date of this letter, the County Commission has yet to fulfill its statutory duty to adopt its fiscal year 2020 appropriation and tax levy resolutions.

The County has indicated to our office that the budget adoption will be considered at a meeting scheduled for the end of August. If the County does not adopt a budget at the meeting, the Commission should recess and reconvene its meeting on each subsequent day until a budget is adopted.

State statutes require that the County adopt its budget no later than August 31st. The budget, once adopted by the governing body, provides the authority for the County to legally levy a property tax and spend money. If a budget has not been adopted on or before August 31st, the County cannot legally spend money, except for its school system as permitted in state law.

As elected officials primary responsibility is to ensure adequate services are made available to its citizens. Services can not be provided unless the county government has legal spending authority through its adopted budget. We expect the County to adopt it's budget no later than August 31 and we look forward to the submission of a complete and proper budget within 15 days of adoption."