Crossville City Council approved an estimated $36.1 million budget on final reading during a special-called meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The budget does not feature a tax increase. Some Council Members did express concern that they did not hear more from department heads during the process about each department’s requests. Council Member Mark Fox said he feels like having the department heads make presentations would be helpful.
“Maybe something to consider next year, because something I might not even know to query a department head about, ‘hey, was this important to you, did this, is this something that we really need to look at, was it pulled?'” Fox said. “Just gives them another opportunity.”
Crossville Mayor RJ Crawford said the city manager meets with department heads to discuss budget requests. Crawford said in recent years, the city has not needed to hear from department heads about budget requests.
“I think in the past, not to be ugly, but down the road, council members, council, didn’t want to spend a dime on anything, you know,” Crawford said. “Now, we give pay raises pretty much, it’s a part of our SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), at least since I can remember. That used to be an issue as well as everything else, so you’re right, we can do that, but most of the time it’s been city manager, fill me in that we’ve pretty much within budget, given the departments what they have wanted.”
The final budget projects the city’s general fund to generate an estimated $36.5 million in revenue. The property tax rate will remain at .6059 per $100 of assessed value. Crawford said he was happy to report that property taxes would not increase, as many people speculated an increase would come with two new council members.
Capital projects included in the budget are an estimated $1.4 million to remodel Fire Station One and an estimated $2.6 million to build Fire Station Two.
The city council passed the budget with a 3-2 vote.
In other business, the council approved a first reading to abandon a right-of-way portion on Livingston Road. The portion of right-of-way that is being abandoned is in front of the Crossville Church of Christ. City Manager Valerie Hale said the current section veers to the right, and the restructuring will straighten the road out. Crawford said the restructuring is for safety reasons.
