Greeneville City Director of Schools Dr. Matt Drinnon updated City Council members Tuesday on budget concerns following the County Tax Levy approval the previous evening by the County Commission.
Click below for Dr. Drinnon’s comments to and discussion with City Council on Tuesday.
School officials are concerned that the general-purpose school levy has fallen steadily and fell again with the Monday vote.
Drinnon told City Council “As most of you know, Greene County passed their tax levy yesterday which was a change in the levy amount in the school column. We talked about that a little bit through the budget process as we went through the spring. 13 were moved out, 10 to the county general, and 3 into the Greene County School’s Capital Fund, which then changes the amount, obviously, that’s collected in property tax that’s shared with Greeneville City Schools. And so we had shared some of that information as we were leading up to that. It did pass. We have made plans for this year. We are not looking at any budgetary challenges through this 2027 year, but had informed town council that could lead to a maintenance of effort issue as we move into 27-28.”
Councilman Tim Ward asked how this could impact the town and school system financially. Dr. Drinnon said “If we base it on last year’s numbers, and that’s why it’s hard to do that, last year, one penny of property tax was $220,000. We got roughly 33% of that weighted equivalent. And so with 13 cents, 33% of that’s roughly $960,000. The 2026-27 budget is covered through a number of other funding sources. But that does change the allocation of what is being collected by the school system and property tax in 26-27. And so 26-27 we’ve been able to make sure that we have plans for that, but that could be a potential maintenance of effort shortfall, depending on what student enrollment once we get into the spring.”
It stood at 77.53 cents per $100 in 2018, about 44 percent of the inside levy. The resolution approved Monday by the County Commission proposes 26 cents, under 16 percent. That puts the school operating levy at roughly a third of its 2018 level. Because a portion of county education revenue is also shared with Greeneville City Schools by weighted average daily attendance, this trend reaches children in both the county and the city.
