Tennessee Ranks 46th in K-12 Education Funding

(From a Nashville Business Journal Article)
Tennessee ranked 46th in the country for its per pupil spending and was about $2,500 below the national average, according to a report released Monday from the U.S. Census Bureau.

As a state, Tennessee spent $7,739 per student in elementary and secondary public schools in the 2007-2008 school year, the report said. The national average was $10,259.

In the U.S. Census’ Public Education Finances 2008 report, the average pupil funding in Tennessee came from $873 in revenue from the federal government, $3,853 from state government and $3,635 from local sources.


To see the full article from the Nashville Business Journal, click here.

To access the entire U.S. Census Bureau report, click here.

New Tennessee Laws Taking Effect July 1, 2010

The General Assembly has a listing available on their website of new laws and changes to laws that take effect July 1 of this year. Much legislation that passes takes effect at the start of the new fiscal year, particularly if it relates to finance or taxation. Other bills may take effect immediately (i.e. when signed by the Governor) or, in rare cases, at some later date established specifically in the legislation.

Here is a link to those laws taking effect on Thursday, July 1.

New laws effective 7/1/2010.

If you have questions about these lawss or how to get full copies of their text, e-mail me and I can help you find what you need.

Follow Me on Twitter

As an experiment in working with social networking media, I've set up a Twitter account and begun following local politics and national news. I'll admit, I'm not sure I see the value in providing constant brief updates on where I am and what I'm doing. Still, I see potential for creating a network among TCCA membership and getting out quick notices about updates, events, developments, etc. With the Legislative Session concluded, the slow season of summer is upon us and most counties are focused either on budget, elections, or both so this isn't a critical time for hearing from me.

But if you are interested, you can follow me @TCCADavidConnor on Twitter. You'll have to set up a Twitter account to do so. Association members have raised concern before about providing information to county officials through sites like Twiter or Facebook where you have to set up an account in order to get information and updates. Don't be concerned. Anything of substance or importance to county commissioners that I need to get to you will go on this site or out by e-mail. Those other sites will probably just be used to let you know when new content is posted here.

If you have ideas and suggestions about how to effectively use that service, this blog, our e-mail newsletter or other resources to provide useful information, let me know.

Electric Car Charging Stations to Begin Opening in East TN

(material from Knoxville News Sentinel)

East Tennesseans driving electric cars will soon be able to charge up their vehicles at a network of 350 stations throughout the Knoxville area. The publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will begin to open in September.

The project is being supported by the city of Knoxville, Knox County, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville Utilities Board and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The partners are part of an EV project involving ECOtality, Nissan North America and General Motors/Chevrolet that calls for the deployment of more than 8,000 new Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt electric vehicles and about 15,000 charging stations across the nation.

For more on this topic, see the full Knoxville News Sentinel article
here.

Jobless Rate Falls in 86 Counties

Tennessee’s unemployment rate for May was 10.4 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the April rate of 10.5 percent. The national unemployment rate for May 2010 was 9.7 percent.

County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for May 2010, released today, show that the rate decreased in 86 counties, increased in seven counties and remained the same in two counties.

Lincoln County registered the state's lowest county unemployment rate at 6.6 percent, down from 7.1 percent in April. Scott County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 19.8 percent, down from 20.2 percent in April, followed by Marshall County at 16.7 percent, down from 17.3 percent in April.

Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 7.7 percent, down from 8.2 percent in April. Davidson County was 8.9 percent, unchanged from the April rate. Hamilton County was at 8.6 percent, down from 9.0 in April, and Shelby County was 10.0 percent, down from 10.2 in April.

For more detail click here.

Deadlines for FEMA Assistance Programs Extended

From a State of Tennessee Press Release

Governor Phil Bredesen today announced Tennessee has requested and received a 30-day extension of deadlines for FEMA assistance programs that will assist individuals in the 46 counties eligible for Individual Assistance as a result of the extreme weather and flooding that struck the state April 30 – May 2.

“I’m extremely pleased people will have more time to register to get the help they need as Tennessee recovers from these historic and devastating floods,” said Bredesen. “I appreciate the support Congressman Jim Cooper, members of the Tennessee delegation and FEMA have provided as we’ve worked in partnership to assist affected Tennesseans.”

FEMA has approved the state’s request to extend the registration deadline for Individual Assistance to August 5, 2010. Disaster survivors in the counties designated for Individual Assistance may apply online anytime at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or call the FEMA HelpLine at 800-621-3362 (FEMA) or (TTY) 800-462-7585 for those with speech and hearing disabilities. Assistance is available in all languages.

Two other deadlines have also been extended:
• The deadline for filing a proof-of-loss statement under the standard flood insurance policy from FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program has been extended for an additional 30 days. Proof-of-loss is usually required within 60 days from the date of loss. This extension provides policy owners an additional 30 days to file.
• The deadline to submit a loan application to the U.S. Small Business Administration has been extended to August 5, 2010.
Filing an SBA loan application is a key part of the FEMA registration process. While no one is required to take out an SBA loan, a loan denial may open up other opportunities for assistance to an applicant. To date the SBA has approved nearly $89 million in low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and nonprofit organizations.
In Tennessee, 63,633 people have registered for Individual Assistance, and FEMA has approved more than $141 million in aid to individual households in Tennessee.
The federally declared counties that have been approved for Individual Assistance are: Benton, Carroll, Cannon, Cheatham, Chester, Clay, Crockett, Davidson, Decatur, DeKalb, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Giles, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lewis, Macon, Madison, Marshall, Maury, McNairy, Montgomery, Obion, Perry, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Shelby, Smith, Stewart, Sumner, Tipton, Trousdale, Wayne, Williamson and Wilson.
Affected individuals must register with FEMA to receive federal disaster assistance. Filing damage reports with state or local county emergency managers or voluntary agencies will not start the process.

Association of Flood Plain Management Annual Conference

Over the past few months, the Department of Economic and Community Development's Local Planning Office has worked with the newly formed Tennessee Association of Flood Plain Management in the development of its first state conference. This conference will be held on July 21 - 23 at Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, Tenn. The conference will be directed toward local community floodplain administrators, but anyone interested in floodplain management is invited to attend. In addition to presentations from FEMA, there will be technical sessions involving private consultants, TDOT, TDEC and ECD.

Information concerning registration or the conference agenda can be found online at www.TNAFPM.com.

New Training in Grants Administration

The State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Research and Strategic Planning Division, and Grant Writing USA will present a two-day grant management workshop in Nashville, July 19-20. This training is for grant recipient organizations across all disciplines. Attend this class and you'll learn how to administer government grants and stay in compliance with applicable rules and regulations.

Tuition is $595 and includes Grant Writing USA's 450-page grant management workbook and reference guide. Seating is limited, online reservations are necessary.

Full details are available here.

Tenessee Job Losses 6th Worst

Tennessee is among 33 states that have fewer private-sector jobs today than they did 10 years ago, according to new figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Tennessee lost 147,500 private-sector positions between May 2000 and May 2010. The loss of 6.32 percent of its private-sector jobs made it the sixth-worst performance by any state.

For more, including a breakdown of all 50 states, see this article from the Nashville Business Journal

State Seeking Input on State Health Plan

The State of Tennessee is seeking input on the State Health Plan through an on-line survey and through a series of public meetings. The first edition of the plan was released in 2009 and is available on-line here.

Tennesseans are invited to give their opinions for the 2010 edition of the State Health Plan. To give your opinion, click here to take the online survey. The survey results will be incorporated into the 2010 State Health Plan, a document of common goals and promising strategies to improve health and health care in Tennessee.

In addition, the Division of Health Planning will hold meetings across Tennessee to discuss goals and strategies for a state health plan. The following meetings have been scheduled with more to follow.

July 9, 10 am – 12 pm Murfreesboro, MTSU
July 13, 10 am – 12 pm Nashville, Tennessee State University
July 15, 1-3 pm Jackson, Tennessee Technology Center
July 16, 1-3 pm Martin, UT Martin
July 20, 10 am – 12 pm Memphis, UT Health Science Center

Additional meetings to be announced in:
Tri-Cities, ETSU
Chattanooga, UT Chattanooga
Cookeville, Tennessee Tech University
Knoxville, UT Howard Baker Center for Public Policy

The Plan establishes Five Principles for Achieving Better Health and outlines a public process for developing goals and strategies for each of the Five Principles. The following Five Principles for Achieving Better Health are based on the Division's enacting legislation:

The purpose of the State Health Plan is to improve the health of Tennesseans;
Every citizen should have reasonable access to health care;
The state's health care resources should be developed to address the needs of Tennesseans while encouraging competitive markets, economic efficiencies, and the continued development of the state's health care system;
Every citizen should have confidence that the quality of health care is continually monitored and standards are adhered to by health care providers; and
The state should support the recruitment and retention of a sufficient and quality health care workforce

Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery

The recent widespread flooding that impacted over half of Tennessee's counties highlights the importance of having an up-to-date disaster recovery or business continuity plan. While many communities are still in the recovery process, those that are not may want to take this time to review and analyze their plans. There are many resources available on the Internet related to disaster recovery and business continuity. One detailed publication developed by the National Fire Protection Association sets standards for development and management of a disaster/emergency management plan and business continuity program. That resource is available here.

May Revenue Report - Mixed News

State tax collections for May were less than budgeted, yet included positive growth in state sales tax collections. Finance and Administration Commissioner Dave Goetz reports that overall May revenues were $767.1 million, which is $18.6 million less than the state budgeted. May sales tax collections represent consumer spending that occurred in the month of April.

“May is the second consecutive month this fiscal year in which sales tax collections posted positive growth over the year before; and before April, we had not seen positive growth since May of 2008," Goetz said. “This is encouraging and we hope this marks the beginning of economic recovery for Tennessee. However, we will continue to closely monitor collections and do whatever is necessary to end this fiscal year with a balanced budget and leave the next governor with a balanced budget on a recurring basis.”

The general fund was under-collected by $16.5 million, and the four other funds were under-collected by $2.1 million. Sales tax collections were $6.1 million less than the estimate for May. The May growth rate was positive 3.70%. For ten months revenues are under-collected by $207.9 million. The year-to-date growth rate for ten months was negative 3.38%.

For more information, go here

Department of Corrections Study on Recidivism

The Tennessee Department of Correction has discovered some encouraging news in its latest study on recidivism. The just released report shows that felons released from TDOC prisons are now less likely to return to custody.

The return rate for ex-felons dropped 3% in the latest survey. For 2005, the recidivism rate stood at 38.8% for offenders who had been out of prison for three years. That's compared to a 42% rate in 2001. While there is no recognized national average for recidivism, return rates range as high as 65% for individual states.

For Tennessee taxpayers, a 3% drop in return means an annual savings of $3,933,502.80 based on the $64.92 daily rate to house an inmate.

Even better news is that the TDOC is maintaining extremely low return rates for felons convicted of violent crimes such as murder, rape and assault. Three years after their release, these offenders were only 25% likely to return to prison compared to the nearly 44% return rate for those convicted of property offenses.

Unfortunately however, (as documented in an article from Nashville Public Radio found here) the rate went up for felons serving their time in county jails. Commissioner Gayle Ray says prisons have the advantage of programs to rehabilitate inmates. But she says not all county jails can afford to do the same.

“Counties are really strapped for the amount of money that’s given to jails, and especially some of the rural counties, they’re barely able to hire correctional officers, much less put in programs – They just don’t have those resources.”

The study also found recidivism was lowest among felons released after serving their full sentence, compared to probation or parole. The full report is available on the TDOC website here.

Local Parks and Recreation Fund Grant Workshop

In the 2010-2011 budget, the General Assembly appropriated $3.7 million for the Local Parks and Recreation Fund (LPRF). On Wednesday June 30, 2010, the Department of Environment and Conservation will host a grant workshop at the Fleming Training Center at 2022 Blanton Drive in Murfreesboro on how to apply for these grants. The workshop will begin at 10:00 AM central time. The grants are intended to help communities create and expand parks and recreation services. These grants may also be used for trail development and capital projects in parks, natural areas and greenways. LPRF grants have a maximum possible award of $200,000 and require a 50% match. Each county and municipality may submit one application per grant cycle. Cities and counties may also apply jointly for one additional project. The department has begun accepting applications for grants from the LPRF and will continue to do so up until the application dealine of August 13. Grants recipients are expected to be announced this fall.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Changes

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Household Hazardous Waste Program is making changes for the coming Fiscal Year and into the future to provide mobile collection service to a greater number of counties and to capture the most hazardous household chemicals throughout the State. In an effort to achieve this goal the HHW Program will no longer accept paint or electronics at the mobile collection events. These two categories of waste have comprised almost three-quarters of the material collected at these events in the past, but are considered minimally hazardous wastes. TDEC says experience indicates that when these two waste streams are diverted away from the mobile collection events, participation and idle times in long lines decrease tremendously. This makes these events more effective at recovering and disposing of the most dangerous household chemicals and wastes.

For paint, the State’s contractor will collect oil-based paint only, at fixed locations. They will continue to provide storage containers, box liners, and milk run pickup service. This service will continue to be provided at no cost to the County. Refer to the Household Paint Management Guidance and Policy on TDEC’s Web page for details. That policy can be found here.

The Household Hazardous Waste Program is available to discuss options that can best meet the needs of each County. If you would like to participate and need technical assistance in launching a local program for the collection of batteries, oil, paint, antifreeze and electronics, you can contact Paula Mitchell at 615-532-9265 or by email at paula.mitchell@tn.gov for more information. TDEC will be soliciting HHW requests for the fall season at a later date.

Session Adjourns - Legislative Conference Concludes

The lack of posts here are more a reflection on too much activity rather than too little over the last month. As the legislative session wound to a close, meetings often extended late into the day. Hopefully I can resume providing new information here now that my schedule is more normal.

The General Assembly adjourned for the year on Thursday, June 10th in the wee hours of the morning. Earlier that week, the TCSA Legislative Conference wrapped up in Gatlinburg on Wednesday morning. The conference was a success even though some legislators scheduled to speak were unable to attend due to the continuation of the legislative session. Thanks to all of you who attended and participated in the conference.

Over the coming weeks I hope to make more information about the outcome of the legislative session available to you here. As for association functions for the upcoming summer, I have already begun planning and development on our 8 TCCA regional meetings for this upcoming September and hope to have all dates and locations finalized soon. I will also be working with the UT County Technical Assistance Service on training sessions for newly elected county commissioners for the County Officials Orientation Program offered this upcoming August after the county election.

Thanks for your continued support of the association and its activities.