Maryville Council raises property tax

By Iva Butler
of The Daily Times Staff

A budget that will raise the property tax rate $25 cents was approved on first reading Tuesday by Maryville City Council.

The $32.9 million budget for 2009 is 6.7 percent over the 2008 budget of $30.8 million.

This is a bare bones budget for the city, not including increased debt service for a new school construction program, said Maryville City Manager Greg McClain.

“There are no budgeted increases for line items sensitive to the economy, including sales taxes and slowing property value growth,” said Maryville Finance Manager Kristine Tallent.

The tax rate will increase from the current $2.05 to $2.30 of $100 of assessed value. The rate increase will require approval on final reading at a called meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, in Maryville Municipal Center.

The property tax increase of 12 percent would add about $62 per $100,000 of residential property.

Increasing operational costs over the current budget are up 59 percent for fuel and 32 percent overall.

The budget includes a 1 percent pay increase for city employees.

Minimal new program and projects include $93,711, primarily for equipment. There are no new positions citywide.

The budget includes an additional $1.36 million in debt service for new school bonds.

The $35 million approved for schools, which includes a $25 million bond issue, will fund:

$5 million for renovation of existing facilities;

$20 million for design and construction of a new intermediate school off Sevierville Road across from Coulter’s Florist;

$10 million for Phase 1 of the expansion and renovation of Maryville High School.

This adds $2 million annually to the budget.

The city’s contribution to school operations and debt services increases 2 percent to $9.3 million. The city payment of school-related debt service would increase by 39 percent to $2.5 million.

New programs would include:

Fire department: A new tower/repeater for the radio system at $8,517 and a grant match for equipment of $2,524.

For the police department: Firearms equipment and range membership at $13,000, polygraph examiner training and equipment at $12,750, crash data recovery system at $8,000 and a new copy machine at $8,000.

For public works department: Replace pumps in Greenbelt Lake at $10,000 and cameras for residential collection trucks at $10,000.

For all departments: Reclassification of existing positions at $8,920.