County commissioners are hoping to wrap up this year’s budget deliberation with a committee meeting Thursday, June 4, 7 p.m. at the Courthouse in Benton. They have been working toward keeping the property tax rate at $2.18/assessed valuation and it appears they will reach that goal. They hope to vote on the budget at the June meeting.

Each penny on the tax rate is estimated to generate $30,322, up from $29,711 for the current budget year. That is based on the assumption that 90% of taxpayers will pay on time. Budget Director Rachel Rogers said this year’s collections will be real close to that.

Commissioners indicated they would be reducing the tax rate allocation for schools from 68¢ to 67¢, which will provide about the same number of dollars, as required by state law. The debt service fund will need 35¢, up from 33¢ last year. The remaining $1.16 of the tax rate would go for general services, down from $1.17 last year.

Department requests for the most part were similar to this year’s budget. All officials said they would like for employees to get a raise, but the commission has not included any raises in the budget other than longevity increases for those who have not reached level 5. They did leave a request for a clerical assistant for the Budget Director because of the increasing workload and new requirements.

At last week’s meeting, commissioners looked at revenues generated this year for the general fund and made some adjustments upward to help cover costs. Key increases were in the state revenue for housing state prisoners, commissary fees and phone fees in the jail.

County Executive Mike Stinnett said the revenue for state prisoners would be over a million dollars this year, so the budget for next year was increased from $945,000 to $1 million, which Stinnett said is conservative. Commission on commissary sales by inmates was estimated to be $31,300 this year and has generated $40,250 through April, so that revenue item was increased to $48,000 for next year. Telephone commission was also over the original $7,500 estimate so it was increased to $21,000 for the coming year.

John Pippenger suggested the commission look at allocating commissary money to a fund for patrol cars so they will be able to establish an ongoing rotation of new cars to avoid a major outlay. County Executive Mike Stinnett said that would be a good idea but that money has already been allocated in the budget. Bishop said the commission has more control if money is not allocated to a special account.

Daren Waters asked about sales tax money from Verizon, noting most people in East Polk have phone numbers allocated for Fannin County to avoid toll charges so the tax money could be going to Fannin. Stinnett said customers can call the provider and make sure the sales tax money is going to their county of residence. Waters said that could make a difference in East Polk.

Mark Bishop told the commission he was wrong about the personnel in Clerk of Courts Connie Clark’s office, saying they are working five days now. He said she has a problem because one is out and she is paying somebody out of her pocket to help with filing.

Bishop said he also learned that it is difficult to determine the amount of back fines in circuit/criminal court because the fine is dropped if a person is convicted of violation of probation and sent to jail. He said the county loses thousands of dollars this way and Clark is not notified so she can’t provide accurate information on outstanding fines.

In Sessions Court, he said, misdemeanor probation officer Greg Mitchell collects payments on fines and will ask for probation to be extended if the fine is not paid off when the probationary period ends. Bishop said the state probation officers are beginning to do the same.