New updates on un-employment in Tennessee show that it has now reached 8.6% for January which is a full point higher than December and three points higher than the same month last year. As I get individual county figures, I will try to make those available here.
See an article on this issue from Nashville Public Radio here:
http://wpln.org/newstranscripts/?p=4935
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tennessee SCORE
Yesterday I attended a press conference held by former U.S. Senator Bill Frist and Governor Phil Bredesen. They were kicking off a new initiative called the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE). This program is an initiative to jumpstart long-term educational change in Tennessee to ensure that every child graduates high school prepared for college or a career. In the fall of 2008, Governor Phil Bredesen set a high bar for Tennessee's K-12 education system with the Tennessee Diploma Project, and SCORE will focus on jumpstarting reforms that will help Tennessee schools, teachers, and students meet this bar.
According to their website, SCORE intends to achieve this goal by (1) developing a strategic plan for K-12 education reform in Tennessee via a statewide Steering Committee of key stakeholders (2) launching a number of Project Teams to initiate both statewide and local education projects and (3) running a grassroots campaign to promote the state's new standards, identify education activists across the state, and create converastions among local community leaders about how each community can improve its local schools.
The Tennessee County Services Association and its affiliates (including the Tennessee County Commissioners Association) are partnering with this effort to pursue positive reforms and improvements to K-12 education in Tennessee. For more information on this initiative, check out its website at: http://www.tennesseescore.org/.
According to their website, SCORE intends to achieve this goal by (1) developing a strategic plan for K-12 education reform in Tennessee via a statewide Steering Committee of key stakeholders (2) launching a number of Project Teams to initiate both statewide and local education projects and (3) running a grassroots campaign to promote the state's new standards, identify education activists across the state, and create converastions among local community leaders about how each community can improve its local schools.
The Tennessee County Services Association and its affiliates (including the Tennessee County Commissioners Association) are partnering with this effort to pursue positive reforms and improvements to K-12 education in Tennessee. For more information on this initiative, check out its website at: http://www.tennesseescore.org/.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Tennessee General Assembly on Pace for Over 2000 Bills
An important deadline passed yesterday for the state legislature. After Thursday, each Senator may only file 9 more bills, apart from certain exceptions allowed in the rules. With 33 Senators, this means approximately 300 more bills may be filed between now and February 26, which is final bill filing deadline for both Houses. While at the start of the week only a few hundred bills had been filed in each chamber, the total reached 1,948 in the Senate and 1,420 in the House as of 3:00 on Friday. This puts the General Assembly on pace for a little over 2000 bills which has been fairly typical in recent years. As these bills are reviewed I will keep you up to date on legislation of particular interest to county government.
Federal Economic Stimulus Legislation
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $787 billion economic stimulus bill that was the result of House and Senate negotiations. A vote in the Senate could come today or tomorrow, putting the bill on track for a signature by the original deadline of President's Day. Estimates on how much of this money may come to Tennessee vary and probably do not reflect a detailed analysis of the final version of the 1000+ page piece of legislation. A couple of on-line sources for information on the stimulus bill are the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities at http://www.cbpp.org/ or the site for Federal Funds Information for States, http://www.ffis.org/
As details about funding for Tennessee emerge, we will disseminate this to you as quickly as possible. We have tentatively talked with officials in the Bredesen administration about having a panel speak to county officials at the County Government Day event that TSCA is holding in Nashville on March 3 and 4. This is dependent on whether enough information and accurate analysis is available to pass on to you by then.
As details about funding for Tennessee emerge, we will disseminate this to you as quickly as possible. We have tentatively talked with officials in the Bredesen administration about having a panel speak to county officials at the County Government Day event that TSCA is holding in Nashville on March 3 and 4. This is dependent on whether enough information and accurate analysis is available to pass on to you by then.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Projections for State Shared Taxes
The county associations have been working to protect state shared taxes. You may remember that these revenue sources were cut the last time the state was dealing with a major budget shortfall. To date, we are generally getting positive responses on this issue, but we plan to continue sending the message that these revenue sources are essential to counties and need to be preserved.
However, you should be advised that state shared taxes, like many other revenue streams, are declining due to economic conditions. At the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations meeting in January, projections for these revenue sources were presented. You can view them here. From this chart you can see that county governments stand to lose substantial dollars, (approximately $16 million) especially in the area of gasoline and motor fuel taxes which are critical to the operation of county highway departments. Hall Income Taxes and Beer taxes are also projected to be down. While other state shared taxes are projected to show some minimal growth, the over all trend is downward. Keep in mind that these figures do not show that revenues are coming in below projections; they are showing that revenues are coming in below prior year collections and represent actual losses in revenue.
It is important to keep a close watch on these figures as counties begin the budget process for next year.
However, you should be advised that state shared taxes, like many other revenue streams, are declining due to economic conditions. At the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations meeting in January, projections for these revenue sources were presented. You can view them here. From this chart you can see that county governments stand to lose substantial dollars, (approximately $16 million) especially in the area of gasoline and motor fuel taxes which are critical to the operation of county highway departments. Hall Income Taxes and Beer taxes are also projected to be down. While other state shared taxes are projected to show some minimal growth, the over all trend is downward. Keep in mind that these figures do not show that revenues are coming in below projections; they are showing that revenues are coming in below prior year collections and represent actual losses in revenue.
It is important to keep a close watch on these figures as counties begin the budget process for next year.
CTAS County Tax Statistics Publication on the Web
The University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service publishes an annual compilation of tax statistics for county governments in Tennessee. You can link to this publication here It is approximately 50 pages in length and is in pdf. format so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the file.
The document is very helpful for comparing your county's tax base and tax rates to other similarly situated counties.
The document is very helpful for comparing your county's tax base and tax rates to other similarly situated counties.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Unemployment Trust Fund Update
Dr. Bill Fox presented this morning to the Joint Select Committee on Business Taxes. His presentation indicated that Tennessee's unemployment rate is now at 7.9% which is higher than levels reached during the last recession. Also, we entered this recession with a lower balance in the Umemployment Trust Fund than during the last recession. These pressures may require an increase in premiums because projections show that the trust fund will run out of funds within the next few years.
There have been dramatic increases over the last two months in the amount of unemployment benefits being paid out. The forecast for the next quarter indicates about 20% more in benefits paid out than the 2001 recession and 8% more than during the 1980-1982 recession. The positive side of this figure is that the Tennessee work force is much larger than during the 1980s. So while the overall amount of benefits is larger, it does not indicate that we have exceeded the employment problems of the early 1980s.
To address the potential shortfall, Dr. Fox presented 4 options: Establish a larger trust fund balance in good times (too late for current circumstances), reduce benefits, increase premiums or broaden the taxable wage base.
There have been dramatic increases over the last two months in the amount of unemployment benefits being paid out. The forecast for the next quarter indicates about 20% more in benefits paid out than the 2001 recession and 8% more than during the 1980-1982 recession. The positive side of this figure is that the Tennessee work force is much larger than during the 1980s. So while the overall amount of benefits is larger, it does not indicate that we have exceeded the employment problems of the early 1980s.
To address the potential shortfall, Dr. Fox presented 4 options: Establish a larger trust fund balance in good times (too late for current circumstances), reduce benefits, increase premiums or broaden the taxable wage base.
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