The Tusculum Board of Mayor and Commissioners approved the City of Tusculum’s fiscal year 2027 budget on first reading Tuesday evening.
Tusculum Mayor Alan Corley acknowledged that the budget, which projects nearly identical revenues and expenditures, was tight.
The budget includes about $1.234 million in revenues and $1.233 million in revenues. The budget shows an increase in net position for the town of $1,098. The board is budgeting for its lowest revenue total since fiscal year 2024. Corley noted that aspirations to begin constructing a section of a new town hall building for Tusculum were being paused due to budget challenges.
However, Corley noted that town officials often budget conservatively on purpose.
Alan Corley
The majority of the town’s budget comes from state and local sales tax revenues, and from a share of state gas tax. Tusculum does not have a property tax.
The share of state sales and gas taxes is based on population, and Corely said that Tusculum had begun to feel the effects of having a higher population since the last census. According to the 2020 Census, Tusculum had 3,298 residents. The state bases shares of tax revenues for the town off that figure.
However, Corley stated that the town’s population had grown significantly higher than that number in the past five years, but that the state will continue to use the data from 2020 until the next census is conducted in 2030. It will then be another couple years before the state factors in the population growth into the town’s share of tax revenues.
Corley noted other municipalities were experiencing similar budgeting issues due to population growth outpacing the 2020 Census counts.
Alan Corley
The budget was approved on first reading by way of a 2-1 vote with Corley and Commissioner Mike Burns voting in favor, and Commissioner Barbara Britton voting against the budget.
The budget currently includes a 3% raise for the town’s employees, and Britton said she would not support the budget unless it included a 4% raise for employees. She recommended the town review its revenues being generated from its certificate of deposits to find the funding in the tight budget. Corley said that town officials would have a new set of numbers next week on the matter, and would review the budget once those numbers were received to see if a 4% raise could be placed in the budget before the document is given final approval.
The budget will be subject to a second and final consideration at the June meeting of the board.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the board approved a budget amendment for the current fiscal year’s budget on first reading. The amendment includes $35,000 generated from fines from speed cameras to be spent on pedestrian and traffic safety. It also includes $51,777 in mobility grant and sewer grant matches that have been carried over from previous years. About 84% of the $46,000 mobility grant expenditure will be reimbursed to the town.
The board also approved an ordinance on second and final reading amending the current fiscal year’s budget to allow for the purchase of a new police car for the Tusculum Police Department.
The City of Tusculum has seen about $100,000 in excess revenues in the current fiscal year, and the city had originally elected not to purchase a new police cruiser in this fiscal year. However, the additional revenues, resulting from higher than expected local option sales tax revenues and school zone speed camera revenue, presented the opportunity to make the purchase.
The board gave final approval to the ordinance that will see $42,000 from sales tax revenues used to purchase a new Dodge Durango for the Tusculum Police Department. Another $38,000 in funds from school zone speed camera revenue will be spent to equip the cruiser with all necessary equipment. An additional $7,200 in funding received from the speed cameras will be used to purchase four AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator). An AED will be placed in each of the city’s police cars, while the fourth would be placed in Tusculum City Hall.
An additional $10,000 in funding from local sales tax revenues will be allocated for the purchase of a new salt spreader for Tusculum Public Works.
The $97,200 budget amendment was approved unanimously.
