Maury County budget to include funding for tornado relief, firefighters

The Maury County Commission adopted its 2024-2025 fiscal budget last month, though not without its share of discussion and amendments for additional firefighters and disaster relief due to the May tornado.

The full commission met last month at its regular meeting, which in addition included updates to certain nonprofit funding.

The initial proposed General Budget was estimated at about $50.4 million. However, other funding was considered prior to adoption.

This included a proposal by District 6 Commissioner Cindy Hestla to add $400,056 to fund six new full-time Maury County firefighters. The amendment passed with a 12-9 vote, increasing the general fund to $50,806,520.

Maury County Public Schools will also be receiving a $154,275,178 in general purpose funds, with an additional $10,830,320 in food service funds.

The budget was ultimately approved in an 18-3 vote, but that was only the beginning of the June 17 discussion.

Tax levies, need for disaster relief, highway funding

Following the budget item, the commission discussed fixing the county's tax levy, or taxes owed on property.

The county's tax rate stands at $1.91 per $100 of taxable property, which feeds into things like the General Fund, schools and solid waste, as well as parks & recreation, highways and capital projects

While the rates will not change, how the money will be allotted to these various entities will be different.

"We need to move three pennies from the debt service fund to the [general] fund, not necessarily for the additional $400,000 that was just added, but because of the disaster that we had," District 5 Commissioner Scott Sumners said. "I think we need to replenish that."

Sumners replaced District 5 commissioner Vincent Fuqua, who resigned earlier this year.

The Debt Service Fund had previously garnered about $0.36 of the tax rate, while the General Fund received $0.52. Sumners motioned to amend the General Fund amount to $0.55, which passed 20-1.

In addition, District 8 Commissioner Ray Jeter motioned to move an additional $0.05 from the Debt Service Fund to the county's Highway Fund, which currently receives $0.09. Though there was speculation if this would be too much money to take from one fund.

"$420,977, that's per penny, and so if you take $.05 you are talking about moving a little over $2 million out of your Debt Service Fund. With $0.03 you're looking at $1,262,931," Maury County Finance Director Doug Lukonen said. "And you can only do this once a year, so if you do it, you're locked in."

There was some dispute on whether moving money to the Highway Fund would be its best use, or if it would make a great impact. Lukonen said the funds would likely be "diluted" since highway maintenance is typically planned out over a five-year period, meaning that while $2 million would be extra money, it likely won't make an impact.

"There are restrictions for what you can use the fund balance for by law," Lukonen said. "It'll raise it gradually, but once you get four or five years down the road it's forcing you to go up and maintain that funding."

The amendment ultimately failed in a 10-11 vote.

Jay Powell is a general reporter for The Daily Herald. Get up-to-date news in your inbox by subscribing to The Daily Herald newsletter at www.ColumbiaDailyHerald.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Maury County budget to include funding for tornado relief, firefighters