Articles Related to Hall Income Tax Proposals

Tom Humphreys of the Knoxville News Sentinnel has two excellent articles on his blog from AP reporter Erik Schelzig about a legislative proposal to abolish the Hall Income Tax in Tennessee. He focuses on the impact such a proposal would have on local governments that currently receive a share of the tax. In total, the local government share is around $62 million out of a total in Hall Income Tax collections of $172 million.

One article breaks down the revenue distributed to local governments by county. Keep in mind though, that these figures include distributions to the county as well as all municipal governments in the county. The lion's share of the revenue going to local governments from the Hall Income tax goes to municipalities - somewhere between two thirds to three fourths depending on the year.

You can find the articles at his blog: http://blogs.knoxnews.com/humphrey/

Tom is considered the dean of Capital Hill reporters and generally has his finger on the pulse of things going on at the Legislative Plaza.

Analysis of the Basic Education Program

In December, the Offices of Research and Education Accountability wtihin the State Comptroller's Office released a Legislative Brief on Tennessee's Basic Education Program. The 34 page document summarizes the provisions of the law, explains how the various funding components work and provides several charts of system by system comparisons of funding and costs.

The publication is available on-line here.

Training Available on K-12 Education Funding and Reform

The County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) and TCCA are offering a training session about Education Funding and Reform. This is the second class in the series of evening workshops that began last fall with the Overview of the County Commission in Tennessee classes.

This class is designed to inform county commissioners about how education funding in Tennessee is structured while also providing an overview of major developments in education reform currently being implemented in our school systems. The funding portion of the class will give officials a general understanding of the Basic Education Program formula which is used to determine state and local funding for K-12 school systems in Tennessee. The funding portion of the class will focus on how an individual system’s share of education funding is determined, including the calculation of local fiscal capacity, and describe the funding requirements that state law places on local funding bodies. The reform portion of the class will review recent developments in Tennessee related to k-12 education reform, including changes in school standards and assessments through the Tennessee Diploma Project, the impact of Race to the Top Grants, the First to the Top program, changes in teacher assessments and other possible reforms. The intent is to help county officials understand new changes that are currently being implemented and how they will impact the overall performance, operation and evaluation of their local school system. Dinner will be provided at 6:00 p.m. with the session offered from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Attendance is free for county officials.

County Commissioners should be receiving a mail notice and registration form about these workshops. The dates and locations are below.

SouthEast Tennessee
Tuesday, February 8 Athens
Athens Conference Center
2405 Decatur Pike, Athens, TN

East Tennessee
Wednesday, February 9 Knoxville
UT Conference Center Building (Room 413A)
600 Henley Street. Knoxville, TN

West Tennessee
Thursday, February 17 Jackson
West TN Research and Education Center (Room A)
605 Airways Boulevard, Jackson, TN

Middle Tennessee
Wednesday, March 23 Franklin
Williamson County Ag Expo Park
4215 Long Lane, Franklin, TN

Statement of Disclosure of Interest due by January 31

All local elected officials are required to file a Statement of Disclosure of Interests (Form 22-8005) with the Tennessee Ethics Commission. This requirement also applies to officials who were appointed to fill a vacancy in an elected public office. The deadline for filing the statement is January 31. You can file this report online by going to www.tennessee.gov/sos/tec/forms.htm and clicking on the appropriate link or you can download the file, fill it out and mail it in. It is available for download here.

If you have questions about the disclosure requirement or form, contact the commission office at (615) 741-7959 or by email at ethics.counsel@state.tn.us.

Social Media Publication

The University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) has created a publication that is a guide for municipalities in the use of social media. I often refer to CTAS publications and training programs here. What CTAS does for counties, MTAS does for municipalities. While the publication is directed more toward cities, there is information that may be of interest to any local government. It discusses how social media may be used for interacting with employees, communicating with citizens and marketing your community. It reviews the benefits of using social media but also provides warnings for potential areas of concern related to privacy, employment and harassment.

The 22 page publication can be found here.

Flurry of Activity this Week

This week marks the organizational session of the Tennessee General Assembly. New members have been sworn in. The Speaker of the House and Lieutenant Governor of the Senate have been elected. Other leadership positions have been filled.

There were no surprises at the top in either chamber. Ron Ramsey returns as Lt. Governor. Beth Harwell was elected the Speaker of the House 98-0 when the Democrats choose not to nominate a candidate. (The one missing vote was due to the vacancy that resulted from the death of long-time Representative Ulyssses Jones of Memphis.)

In joint session, the legislature returned David Lillard to the position of State Treasurer and Justin Wilson to the office of Comptroller of the Treasury. Secretary of State Tre Hargett still has two years remaining on his term.

Today, standing committee appointments were named. There were few changes in the State Senate, except that Sen. Ken Yager was named chair of the State and Local Government Committee. Sen. Yager takes the post after Sen. Ketron moved to the position of Republican Caucus Chair with the departure of former Sen. Diane Black to Congress. Sen. Yager has extensive experience in county government, having served several terms as County Executive of Roane County.

In the House on the other hand, virtually every committee has new leadership. One exception is the State and Local Government Committee, where Rep. Curry Todd of Shelby County continues to serve as chair. Rep. Bob Ramsey of Blount County will serve as Vice Chair and Chair of the general subcommittee of the State and Local Government Committee. Speaker Harwell instituted the first major change under her leadership today when she revamped the subcommittee structure in the House of Representatives. Previously, every House committee had 2 or 3 subcommittees and all bills moved through a subcommittee before passage in a full committee. Now, each committee will have only one general subcommitee and not all bills will be referred to a subcommitee. The Speaker announced the change as a means of streamlining the legislative process.

The full leadership and membership of commitees and subcommittees should be available on the General Assembly's website soon.

This week's events will culminate Saturday with the innauguration of Governor-Elect Bill Haslam. After that event, the General Assembly is expected to recess for a 3 week break so that offices can be moved and staff can prepare for the many changes.

Additional Haslam Appointments

This week, Bill Haslam announced two more members of his cabinet. He retained Susan Whitaker as the Commissioner of the Department of Tourist Development. She becomes the second hold over from the Bredesen administration. The other is Greg Gonzales at the Department of Financial Institutions.

Then today, the Governor-elect named Derrick Schofield as Commissioner of Corrections. Schofield is currently the assistant commissioner and chief of staff for the Georgia Department of Corrections. He is the first non-Tennesseean named to Haslam's cabinet.

With these appointments, Haslam has announced 10 of 22 state government department heads.

For more on the Schofield appointment, see Tom Humphrey's blog with the Knoxville News Sentinnel at http://blogs.knoxnews.com/humphrey/

Six Tennessee Counties Recognized by GFOA

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has recognized the State of Tennessee and six Tennessee Counties for outstanding work in preparing last year's budget. The six counties are Bradley, Hamilton, Knox, Davidson, Shelby and Weakley.

In addition, 11 Tennessee cities were recognized.

The GFOA is an organization dedicated to enhancing and promoting the professional management of government finances through education, training, member networking and leadership programs. The GFOA has members throughout the United States and Canada.

Franklin City Mayor John Schroer Named as Commissioner of Transportation

Tennessee Governor-elect Bill Haslam today announced Franklin Mayor John Schroer as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Schroer was sworn in as Franklin Mayor in 2007, and is a member of the Middle Tennessee Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Regional Transit Authority.

Schroer spent a decade working in commercial real estate finance before starting his own development business. Prior to his election, he served on the Franklin Special School Board for 13 years, and he also has served on the board of the Tennessee School Board Association.

For more on this appointment, go to www.billhaslam.org

TCCA Board Meeting - February 1

The Board of Directors of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association will meet in the ground floor conference room of the 226 Capitol Boulevard Building in Nashville on February 1st at 10:00 a.m. central time. The board will receive regular quarterly reports, discuss legislative initiatives for the upcoming session of the General Assembly, review legislation impacting county governments that has been filed to that date and conduct other business. The meeting is open to the public and the full membership. However, members should be aware that this board meeting, which is not held in conjunction with a broader conference, will include no presentations or programs other than the board meeting itself.

Unless a special meeting is called, the other board meetings of the association will occur in conjunction with the three major Tennessee County Services Association meetings and conferences:

County Government Day - Nashville - April 19 and 20
Legislative Conference - Glenstone Lodge, Gatlinburg, June 7 and 8
TCSA Fall Conference and Trade Show - Murfreesboro - October 26-28

Congrats to David Purkey

With the holidays, this post is a little belated, but congrats to former Hamblen County Mayor David Purkey on his appointment as Assistant Commissioner for Homeland Security.

The Office of Homeland Security (OHS) was transferred from the Governor’s Office to the Tennessee Department of Safety in 2008, and OHS’s primary responsibility is directing statewide activities for the prevention of and protection from terrorist-related events. The office also serves as a liaison between federal, state and local agencies and the private sector on security matters.

For more information on this appointment, go to the Haslam transition website www.billhaslam.org.

Tennessee Receiving $1.4 million in Ag Funds for Schools and Some County Programs

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that more than $389 million is being distributed to 41 states and Puerto Rico for public schools and roads and specific county programs. Tennessee will get $1.4 million.

In addition to payments for schools and roads, the Secure Rural Schools Act supports Firewise Communities programs, reimburses counties for emergency services on national forests and funds development of community wildfire protection plans.

For more on this, see the full article from the Kingsport Times News at http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9028771