The County Commission met on Monday, July 25, 2022, to discuss quarterly reports from other county departments and budgets/appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year.

During the alloted time for public input, Commissioner Brian Peery called upon Brian Johnson, Republican candidate for State Representative, to speak as he was in attendance for the meeting.

The hopeful State Representative thanked Commissioner Peery and introduced himself to the Commission, saying he would love to represent Hohenwald and its surrounding counties.

2022-2023 Property Tax Rate

A resolution came before the Commission to approve this fiscal year’s property tax rate with a summary of an estimated collections total.

The property tax rate was reported to be the same as last year’s rate, 1.8838, with no increase, which is the lowest property tax rate in all of Middle Tennessee. The summary reported that if all property taxes were paid, then the County General fund would benefit $3,028,539, the Highway Department would gain $77,729 and the General Purpose School Fund would receive $1,427,035.

Commissioners Austin Carroll and Patrick Halfacre sponsored the resolution, and the resolution passed in a unanimous roll call vote.

Funding Appropriations for Non-Profit Organizations

A resolution came before the Commission showing the amount of funding to local non-profit organizations. The following are the organizations and amounts being donated: $19,000 to the Volunteer Fire Department, $3,500 to Centerstone, $9,000 to Davis House Child Advocacy Center, $2,500 to The Shelter, Inc., $6,000 to the Lewis County Senior Center from the County General fund, $18,000 for Lewis County Soil Conservation, $18,000 for the Hohenwald/Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, $1,600 to South Central Human Resource Agency, $1,218 to the South Central TN Development District, $1,000 to the American Legion Post 127, $4,800 to Buffalo River Services, $2,000 to the Hohenwald Arts Council, $1,000 to the Lewis County Cancer Victims Fund, $3,500 to the Lewis County Historical Society, $1,000 to the TN Department of Forestry, $1,000 to the War Memorial Hall Committee, $1,200 for miscellaneous non-profits (with a maximum of $200 for each) and $6,000 to the Lewis County Senior Center from the Highway Department fund.

The resolution was sponsored by commissioners Carroll and Halfacre, and passed in a unanimous roll call vote.

Appropriations for Various Funds, Departments, Institutions, Offices and Agencies

A resolution came before the Commission that read, “the amounts hereafter set out are hereby appropriated for the purpose of meeting the expenses of the various funds, departments, institutions, offices and agencies of Lewis County, Tennessee, for the capital outlay, and for meeting the payment of principal and interest on the County’s debt maturing during the year beginning July 1, 2022, and ending June 30, 2023, according to the following schedule.”

The County General fund was shown to have $6,973,375 in revenue that would go towards the following expenditures: $976,654 to General Administration, $491,174 to Finance, $497,874 to Administration of Justice, $3,496,851 to Public Safety, $252,970 to Public Health and Welfare, $255,340 to Social, Cultural and Recreational, $126,535 to Agriculture and Natural Resources and $875,977 to Other General Government.

The Solid Waste/Sanitation Fund was shown to have $840,650 in revenue to go towards the following expenditures: $752,442 to Public Health and Welfare and $54,100 to Other General Government which left $34,108 to go back into their general fund.

The Highway Public Works Fund was shown to have $2,445,533 in revenue to go towards the following expenditures: $175,766 to Administration, $1,017,690 to Highway and Bridge Maintenance, $275,940 to Operations and Maintenance of Equipment, $72,585 to Other Charges, $425,380 to Employee Benefits, $755,000 to Capital Outlay which comes in $276,828 over the highway works revenue. The amount will come out of the Highway Department’s general fund.

The School General Purpose Fund was shown to have $15,452,471 to go towards the following expenditures: $8,980,948 to Instruction, $488,962 to Support Services, $5,257,561 to Non-Instructional Services and $725,000 to Capital Outlay.

The School Federal Projects Fund was shown to have $1,208,197 in revenue to go towards the following expenditures: $394,599 to Instruction, $782,990 to Support Services and $30,608 to Other Uses.

The School Cafeteria Fund was shown to have $1,256,650 in revenue to go towards the Non-Instructional Services expenditure.

The Drug Control Fund was shown to have $1,000 in revenue to go towards Public Safety.

The Sports and Recreation (Park) Fund was shown to have $169,600 in revenue to go towards the following expenditures: $140,801 to Parks and Fair Boards, $15,999 to Other General Government and $4,100 to Other General Government, leaving $8,700 to go back into their general fund.

The Debt Service Fund was shown to have $356,000 in revenue to go towards the following expenditures: $2,400 to Other General Government, $210,000 to General Government Principal and $143,600 to General Government Interest.

The budget appropriations were sponsored by commissioners Carroll and Halfacre, and the resolution passed unanimously in a roll call vote. Because the resolution passed, it will be sent to the state.

County Mayor Quarterly Report

The County Mayor gave the Commission a balance report from the Trustee’s office, showing the financial standing of each department. All were in good standing. Department/budget highlights were the County General Fund with $2,764,827.69 (with no grant money included), the Solid Waste Fund with $384,609.24, the Industrial/Economic Development at $553,960, the American Rescue Plan Grant at $1,968,451.95 (to be spent before 2026), and Debt Service at $473,888.73.

Director of Schools Quarterly Report

Director of Schools Dr. Tracy McAbee addressed the Commission by going over the schools’ budgets which were provided in the agenda packet.

For the General Purpose School Fund, the total receipts was a reported $3,102,409.93 and the expenditures for this quarter was $14,960,899.29. For the Federal Projects School Fund, the total receipts was a reported $1,422,909.36 and expenditures for this quarter were $1,398,912.12. For the Capital Projects School Fund, the total receipts were $10,000,000 from “Transfers in” and the expenditures were $884,488.75 for “Regular Instruction.” For the Food Services fund, the total receipts were a reported $543,835.48 and the total expenditures were $340,643.53.

Commissioner Halfacre asked Director McAbee if he still wanted to move towards building the new school to which Dr. McAbee said that no decision has been made as of yet and the County Commission would be included on making that decision.

Commissioners Aren Ragsdale and Wendell Kelley motioned to accept the report, and the report was accepted in a unanimous vote.

Emergency Management Quarterly Report

Lewis County Emergency Management Director Danny Atkinson presented his quarterly report which read as follows:

(1.) Director attended all required District and State of Tennessee meetings as directed; (2.) Working on a new five year plan now to be completed this year; (3.) Director and 911 Board are working to upgrade all equipment.. We need more personnel; (4.) Director, law enforcement and fire department are working on communication. We need more updates on all communication; (5.) Working with the State, EPA and others to clean out creeks; (6.) Working with Perry, Hickman Counties and Homeland Security to prepare for the new 32nd district computer program; (7.) Some personnel need to complete Incident System Command courses; (8.) Working to install Emergency Communications Network (Code Red System); (9.) Waiting on answers of land for sale for Comm Towers; (10.) Director, County and City Mayors, Fire Chief and all concerned personnel meet with TEMA as an emergency planning committee; (11.) Working with Hickman, Perry and Lewis Counties to prepare for the new 32nd Judicial District through Homeland Security plans.

At this point, Commissioner Larry Pigg asked Director Atkinson about Item Eight, concerning the land for sale. Commissioner Pigg said that there was a piece of land close to him that was for sale where the old firetower was. He further explained that its recently been put up for sale and to the County, it would only cost property taxes.

The Commission decided to consider the property and the report was unanimously accepted.

Highway Department Quarterly Report

Lewis County Highway Commissioner, Joyce Holt, went over her quarterly report where she said the total amount received and cash on hand was $2,945,520.37, and total disbursements for this quarter was $603,016.92.

Holt’s report was unanimously accepted.

Sheriff’s Department Quarterly Report

Sheriff Dwayne Kilpatrick reported that their ending balance was good, and even had some surplus. Their liabilities [or expenditures] began this quarter at $816.43 and ended at $40,307.10. Their assets [or revenues] began this quarter at $1,872.29 and ended at $40,807.10.

Lewis County Public Library Quarterly Report

Lewis County Public Library and Archives Librarian Crystal Nash took the podium and reported to commissioners that one of the library’s biggest goals is to be a center of lifelong learning which could be anything from toddlers learning pre-literacy skills to senior citizens coming in and learning how to use technology.

“In the Summer, our main focus is preventing the ‘Summer Slide’ with programs for children as part of our annual summer reading program. This year we offered 30 STEM programs. We had 241 children register which was a 125 percent increase from last year,” said Nash, “Children logged 54,690 minutes read and that’s 6,084 minutes more than they read last year. So we’re happy to do our part to help prevent the ‘summer slide’ and the loss [of information] over the summertime. We were very pleased with our program this year which we just finished over at the parking lot with an outdoor movie.. We thank you guys for the continued support of the library.”

Nash’s report was unanimously accepted by the Commission.

Budget Amendment for Lewis County Library

A budget amendment came before the Commission that sought to move $100,000 from the “American Rescue Plan (Fund Balance)” account into the “American Rescue Plan (Grant #5)” account so that the Library can use the donated money that was passed at last month’s meeting for their expansion project.

Commissioners Carroll and Halfacre sponsored the amendment, and the Commission passed the amendment in a unanimous roll call vote.

Lewis County Airport Report

In the airport report, provided by Airport Manager Gary Nash, there is a reported 18 total based aircraft, none part-time based. Thirteen aircrafts are in the County Hangar and the Airport had 51 visitors.

In revenue, the airport sold 634 gallons of fuel at $5.96 for a total of $3,376.89 in sales. Fuel tank re-supply purchases were 3,272 gallons and were last purchased in February 25, 2022.

The fuel tank balance was 2,033 gallons with a capacity of 4,000 gallons. Fuel system inspections were reported to be performed daily. Runway lighting repairs were reported to also be in progress.