Both Signal Mountain and Walden townships are beginning their budget talks next week.
The public is invited to attend, although not necessarily participate in, the discussions: Signal officials will meet at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 7, and Walden officials at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 9.
Neither town anticipates raising taxes, according to representatives.
"My plan, as I'm working through the budget, will be to present you a budget that's balanced," Signal Mountain Town Manager Honna Rogers told Town Council members. "You all will have the opportunity to change some of that budget or add in some capital funding you'd like to see. There are some capital projects that are needed."
While Signal Mountain appears to have some wiggle room in next year's budget, according to Rogers, Walden Town Recorder Fern Lockhart said she is concerned about the loss of revenue from the Hall tax. What has historically padded coffers as much as $400,000 each year was amended in 2011 to make more people exempt, resulting in less money for municipalities. Lockhart said she expects that to catch up to the town this year.
"I'm not able to put any back in reserves anymore because the Hall tax money was our reserve," she said. "We're meeting our budget and staying within budget, but there's not a lot of extra to put back for special projects. I think we will be in good shape for next year's budget, but we're not going to be able to start any new projects as far as I can tell.
"We're not going to spend all our reserve because we need to make sure we've got enough in case there is a major catastrophe," she added - at last count the town's reserves stood at about $3 million.