After several months of deliberation among members of the Signal Mountain Town Council, the town's fiscal year 2020 budget is finalized.
The budget includes a property tax rate increase of just more than 32 cents, going from $1.5665 to $1.8866 per $100 of assessed value. For a $300,000 home, the approximate median home value in the town, that would mean an increase of about $240 a year or $20 a month.
Councilors voted 3-1 at their July 22 meeting to pass the budget, which has been amended several times, with Vice Mayor Amy Speek casting the lone "no" vote.
Before the vote, Speek said that her reason for voting against the budget - which includes a 5% raise for town employees except for Town Manager Boyd Veal, who did not include a raise for himself in his original, recommended budget - had nothing to do with not wanting to give employees a raise.
"It's how we're going about [giving employees a raise], said Speek, who suggested during budget discussions to cut the raises to 2.5%, in order to lower the tax increase, among other suggestions. "I 100% support our town staff and they do an excellent job and are very deserving. I think there are other ways we could have done this budget and I recognize that I am outnumbered."
Mayor Dan Landrum said some of Speek's suggestions, such as increasing non-resident fees for town services and amenities, will be further explored in the future.
Councilman Bill Lusk said that despite the increase, he will pay less in taxes because of the phase-out of the Hall income tax and expects that will also be the case for many other residents. The Hall tax was a 6% tax rate on investment income that the state Legislature agreed in 2016 to reduce by 1% each year through 2020, with its total elimination beginning Jan. 1, 2021.
Councilman Bob Spalding resigned from his post, and his final meeting was July 8.
Councilors voted to appoint former Signal Mountain Planning Commission Chairwoman Cheryl Graham to fill Spalding's vacancy. Graham should be able to begin her role at the council's next meeting on Aug. 12, if all goes as planned and she is sworn in by that date, Veal said.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.