The Greene County Budget and Finance Committee recommended the budget for the Greene County School System be given approval during a brief meeting Wednesday.
The roughly $66.3 million budget includes state-mandated pay raises for teachers. Under a bill passed by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by Gov. Bill Lee in 2023, all full-time teachers in the state are required to have a minimum salary of at least $50,000 by this fall.
Greene County Director of Schools Chris Malone said that the school system had met that requirement with the fiscal year 2027 budget after gradually working towards the goal since the bill passed in 2023.
Malone said some personnel cuts had to be made in the system to balanced the budget, but that the budget was indeed balanced.
The budget includes revenues that are identical to expenditures.
He noted the budget was similar to the previous fiscal year’s.
Chris Malone
Malone noted that pressures in the budget were slightly alleviate when the school district found its insurance costs would be increasing 9% instead of an expected 12% to 14%.
The Greene County Commission is likely to consider approving the budget, along with other departmental budgets, in July according to officials.
In other business, the committee preliminarily approved a resolution allocating another round of Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council funds to the Greene County Anti-Drug Coalition, which is being renamed Greene County Thrives, and the Greene County Drug Recovery Court.
The Greene County Drug Recovery Court would receive $100,000, while Greene County Thrives would receive $88,775.95.
The funds from the state Abatement Council are required to support opioid abatement activities, including prevention, education, treatment, recovery support services, and related intervention efforts within Greene County.
The committee also gave preliminary approval to the purchase of a Bobcat loader and telehandler for Greene County Solid Waste at a cost of $380,000, with $357,102 being covered by grant funds.
Additionally, the committee gave preliminary approval to a resolution allocating $100,000 to Greene County-Greeneville EMS to be used to pay part-time personnel. EMS is self-funded, and the monies for the part-time personal are coming out of fees charged by EMS. No tax dollars are a part of the allocation.
In addition, the committee moved to donate six old Motorola portable radios and an old riding lawn mower to the Greeneville Emergency and Rescue Squad.
