The Cookeville City Council approved a $244 million annual budget on first reading during its Thursday meeting.
Finance Director Jenni Nisewander said the budget addresses priorities including capital infrastructure, equipment, and employee compensation. Nicewander said the spending plan includes a $2,000 market adjustment for all full-time employees and a merit raise of up to 2 percent based on evaluations.
“The impact of the market adjustment is a 3 percent increase in salary for about 68 percent of our employees,” Nisewander said. “This budget funds three new full-time positions: one utility worker in public works concrete crew, one EMT in the fire department because the CCR van used to be grant funded, we technically have to add that as an as an additional person this year, one meter installer in the water quality control, and one seasonal position in leisure services to assist the horticulturist with beautification of the city.”
The budget maintains a property tax rate of 99 cents, though officials noted the rate will be adjusted following the completion of property reappraisals. Nisewandersaid the city will follow its standard practice of rounding the certified tax rate up to the nearest whole cent once that figure is provided by the state.
“We believe we have enough revenue now to currently to do the projects we need to do,” City Manager James Mills said. “We’re not proposing to increase this year, we just increased seven cents last year. And so we believe we’re in good financial shape and be able to handle the growth that we’re going to have for the foreseeable future.”
The city budget includes more than $30 million in capital projects outside of utilities, including $2 million for a new fire department ladder truck and $1.62 million for public works improvements. Nisewander said the city has paved roughly 65 miles of streets since 2021 and will continue to prioritize road maintenance.
“We’ve made paving a priority since fiscal year 22, spending over $11 million, and we will continue to make that a priority,” Nisewander said.
The council also approved the fiscal year 2027 budget for Cookeville Regional Medical Center, which projects $21.9 million in net income. CRMC Chief Financial Officer Tommye Rena Wells said the hospital is budgeting $536 million in operational expenses and $88 million for capital projects, including an inpatient rehabilitation expansion and a new electronic medical record system.
“The facility will continue to invest in employees next fiscal year with salaries and wages increasing approximately $11 million for workforce growth, merit increases, bonuses and market adjustments,” Wells said. “The facility continues to invest and be committed to building a healthier community, as uncompensated care is projected for FY 26 at 36.5 million and budgeted for FY 27 at 37.8 million.”
