Tennessean Editorial

I was asked to write a guest editorial for the Tennessean on local government response to the recession. The article was published on December 23rd. It is still available on their website here:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812230321

The editorial was linked with this article:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081223/OPINION01/812230322

On the same page, there was another editorial about county government fiscal struggles by Wilson County Commissioner Bernie Ash which is available here:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812230320

Tennessean Article on Economic Impact in Middle Tennessee

This article appeared today in the Tennessean addressing the impact of the economic slowdown on counties in middle-Tennessee. It focuses on efforts in Nashville and the surrounding counties to deal with reduced revenues.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081210/NEWS0202/812100409

It also links to this document estimating sales tax revenues for a few counties and school systems. http://www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN1240811210.PDF

TACIR Report on Impact of Economic Slowdown on Local Governments

Follow this link for a report from the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations on how the economy is affecting local governments.

http://www.state.tn.us/tacir/Special%20html%20Reports/slowdown.html

The report confirms many of the same concerns that TCCA and TML reported to the joint fiscal review committee meeting back in November.

This report now reflects four months of data and also provides more detail on where losses are occurring. Looking at collections for the period of June - September, there are now 43 counties showing negative growth in sales tax from the same period in the prior year. This reflects collections in the entire county (both in cities and unincorporated areas). When you focus on collections in only the unincorporated areas, 52 counties are showing negative growth.

School Board Taxing Authority Not Receiving Warm Reception

This year the Tennessee School Boards Association is proposing an initiative to change the Tennessee Constitution to give school boards in Tennessee independent taxing authority. We discussed this issue at our regional TCCA meetings in late summer.

Here is an article from the Chattanooga Times Free Press on the topic:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/dec/07/hamilton-county-few-back-tax-power-school-board/?local

The article quotes Hamilton County Commissioners Warren Mackey (who serves on the TCCA Board of Directors) and Chairman Jim Coppinger as well as Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey.

As things stand right now, the Tennessee Constitution would have to be changed in order to directly give school boards taxing authority. That takes time as such a proposal would have to pass two separate General Assemblies and then be approved by the voters. What could happen right away is that the General Assembly could lift the ban on existing school districts converting to special school districts. We have about 14 special school districts in Tennessee currently, but the law has prohibited the creation of any new special school districts for some time. Special school districts levy a property tax pursuant to a private act adopted by the state legislature that sets a tax rate for the school system. So it would take taxing authority away from the county commission, but would give it to state legislators who usually act based on the recommendations of the school board for the special school district.

Our board has traditionally taken the position that it is opposed to changes that would splinter the authority to levy taxes at the county government level. This proposal seems to be a move in the opposite direction of what is going on in other parts of the country. Other states currently are looking at their local government structure to see if it should be simplified. For example, an Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform issued a report last year recommending a reduction in the number of government entities that had the authority to levy property taxes. The conclusions of that study were that too many levels of taxing authority and decision making ability at the local government level reduced responsiveness to the voters. This study can be found here: http://indianalocalgovreform.iu.edu/assets/docs/Report_12-10-07.pdf To be fair, Indiana has a much more complicated structure of local government than Tennessee and school authorities there do have taxing authority.

Obviously not all county officials are of the same mind on this topic. As reflected in the Times Free Press article, not all school board members agree with this issue either. The article indicates that approximately two-thirds of the TSBA delegates at their annual meeting voted in favor of pursuing this initiative.

Possible Jail Overcrowding Legislation

The link below connects you to an article in the Johnson City Press about legislation proposed by State Rep. David Hawk. His bill is an attempt to provide relief to counties that are struggling with overcrowded jails. According to the article, Rep. Hawk is working on legislation that would provide that overcrowding alone cannot cause the state to de-certify a local jail.

The majority of counties across the state have either recently finished an expansion of an existing jail or construction of a new one or they in the planning or construction process currently. Many times the overcrowded conditions are compounded by the presence of state prisoners - convicted felons either sentenced locally or kept in the local jail because of a lack of room in state prisons.

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Detail.php?Cat=LOCALNEWS&ID=65947

News Article on Highway Department Challenges

As a follow up to the posts from last week on transportation and highway funding issues, here's a link to a Tennessean article on the issue that quotes Rodney Carmical of the Tennessee County Highway Officials Association and county officials in Wilson and Rutherford County. The article also refers to the on-going study committee of the State Legislature looking at these issues.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081201/NEWS02/812010339/1001/NEWS