Jonesborough residents will not see a tax increase with proposed budget

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Jonesborough Board and Alderman (BMA) passed its fiscal year 2024-25 budget with no property tax increase on the first reading Wednesday.

Mayor Chuck Vest said the board and staff put in a lot of hard work to get a balanced budget without a tax increase.

“Our board said early on we didn’t want to burden the residents of Jonesborough any more than what they have been by inflation throughout our country for groceries and housing and different things like that,” Vest said. “So being able to keep our tax rate the same is certainly a plus for our residents.”

The new rate will be $0.9662 versus the $1.20 rate of FY23-24.

Building permit and review fees will be increasing due to growth in the town. They were increased last year as well.

“We’ll see some increases in there just to capture more revenue from all the new developments that are coming into Jonesborough,” Vest said. “So we’re trying to make sure that our town is fairly compensated for that.”

All other rates will stay the same except the water and sewer rates for large commercial customers using over 5,000 gallons.

“There’ll be a small $2 increase for every thousand gallons, for over 5000 gallons for some commercial accounts. So we’ll see that on the water side. But it shouldn’t be anything that will not affect any of our residents. But it’s a way to capture so much more revenue from these businesses that impact our system more.”

Also at the meeting, the BMA passed an employee compensation plan that includes raises for town employees.

“The compensation plan is going to be good for retaining our employees that we’ve had that’s been here, our most experienced employees,” Kevin Brobeck, Jonesborough Utility Manager, said. “And it’s also going to help us go out into the workforce and draw more people that want to come here with a better rate of pay.”

A market study for easements for new water transmission lines was also passed. The lines will pass through 140 – 145 properties.

“Most people’s homes, there’s a right-of-way,” Brobeck said. “There’s a county right-of-way at the road front side. And we lay utilities in that right-of-way. That’s typically what you do. But sometimes with a line as large as we’re laying, sometimes we have to get around the utility that’s already there or it just takes up more area than what the right-of-way gives us. So at that point in time, we ask customers if they would like to donate a little easement for us to along the roadway to get through with water line. And sometimes they ask for compensation and that’s what that’s for.”

The bids for the new water transmission lines will go out in late spring or late summer of 2025.

A new water treatment facility is also planned to be built. Bids will go out at the first of 2025. Brobeck said that the plant will take three to four years to be completed.

Also, Brobeck said customers do not have to conserve water anymore after dry conditions last week .

“Since we had the rain and the customers helped us, the conserve water is no longer needed,” Brobeck said. “There’s no need to conserve the water right now because we’re back to normal levels in our tank.”

The budget ordinances will move on to a second reading.

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