Commission to set property tax rate

Aug. 27--Monday could prove to be an important day for the future of Wilson County as the Wilson County Commission will vote on a new county property tax rate.

The regular commission meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Wilson County Courthouse. A public hearing will take place at 6 p.m. before the commission meeting.

The county leaders will set the new property tax rate after months of meetings, discussions, debate and questioning about the proposed rate of 2.6059, more than 40 cents more than the state certified rate of 2.1672.

The increase would cover Wilson County employee pay adjustments (15 cents); Wilson County Emergency Management Agency (2.07 cents); county convenient centers (1 cent); Wilson County Schools teacher raises (8.1 cents); Mt. Juliet area middle school (15 cents) and the county general fund (2.7 cents).

The group could decide to approve all, some or none of the proposed increase, with several different commissioners seeing some causes as needs and others as wants.

Several commissioners voiced their opinion about the potential employee pay plan during a work session last week and what it would cost the county. Some raised questions about possibly implementing the plan over a two-year period rather than one and the scenarios and costs associated with bringing some employees at the minimum range to be competitive at the mid-range of comparable counties.

Many commissioners voiced their commitment to employee salary adjustments last year after the commission approved several amendments to employee health insurance.

"We've got to put these county employees first next year. They're the oil that runs the engine. They're what make county government runs well," Commissioner Terry Ashe said last year. "We can do a lot fun projects and we've done a lot of fun projects, but I'm committed not to do anything next year except take care of the employees of this county."

Other commissioners discussed teacher pay raises during the same meeting.

Commissioner Sara Patton read a letter she received from a teacher with eight years of experience who said she receives the same salary as a first-year teacher. Commissioner Wendell Marlowe backed up the teacher's remarks.

"It's almost as unethical to me to hire a teacher, pay them $40,000 a year and you got a three-year teacher over here making less than that. That three-year teacher could quit one year and come back the next and get a raise," he said.

The potential new Mt. Juliet-area middle school has also caused some rift among commissioners.

The Wilson County school board approved a land contract last year for 53 acres at 8275 Stewarts Ferry Pike for a middle school. During this month's budget committee meeting, Commissioner Jerry McFarland suggested the body should wait until sales tax figures are returned before acting on the school since funds could potentially be used for the building.

Commissioner Annette Stafford led the charge for the school funding, noting the increase in school enrollment.

Wilson County Director of Schools Donna Wright said the school system currently has about 600 more students -- 17,960 in the district currently -- that it did at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. She also said Mt. Juliet and West Wilson middle schools were among the largest in the state.

"There's no piece of brick and mortar that's ever taught a kid. It's the inefficient expenditure for education," Commissioner Frank Bush said during the budget committee meeting.

"Eventually we're going to have to build that school in Mt. Juliet," Wilson County Finance Director Aaron Maynard said.

Maynard also discussed the additional funds for WEMA, which has one of the higher rates of turnover in the county, mainly due to paramedics and EMTs.

"I think we had to get competitive from a salary standpoint, particularly with paramedics, EMTs and people working in the jail. We were losing those people at an alarming rate. You train a paramedic for two or three years and then they go off to another county and you're back where you started," Maynard said.

Maynard said the commission has some hurdles to jump when forming the budget due to state regulations such as education, road commission and sheriff's department funding.

"When it gets down to what the 25 people in that room can control, it is a lot smaller than what the general public believes. You get down to are we going to pay our people to keep them or not? Are we going to build schools or are we going to wait until we have 5-25 portables outside? None of this makes people feel better," he said.

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