Signal Mountain says no to tax rise

Signal Mountain is the latest municipality to tell residents one of the more beloved phrases in government: no new taxes.

Before Monday night's Town Council meeting, Mayor Bill Lusk credited Signal Mountain's financial stability to Town Manager Honna Rogers and other members of the town's financial team.

"We're lucky to have them and we want to take care of them," the mayor said.

The town's finances are strong enough to do just that, as 80 town employee raises were quickly added to a budget that passed unanimously on first reading Monday night.

A slight tax revenue increase helped balance the $6.1 million budget, but it doesn't come without some quirks.

RACCOON INVASION

According to Mrs. Rogers, the Hamilton County School District "gifted" the now-defunct Signal Mountain Elementary School building to the town in 2009. The location serves as the Mountain Arts Community Center, a place for children to dance, paint and take other art classes.

It was not a seamless transaction, judging from the "raccoon poop" center director Barbara Storm found stacked inside the building's attic.

"It was 10 feet long, 6 feet wide and 1 foot deep," Ms. Storm said. "Obviously, the raccoons used it as a hotel for years."

About $180,000 will be spent on repairs to the roof and other problem areas within the complex, which benefits about 225 children per year. Ms. Storm said a complete renovation was planned for the near future, "but unfortunately, the raccoons beat us to it."

Acquiring the Mountain Arts Community Center property, worth $1.2 million according to the property's most recent appraisal, is recorded in the FY 2010 budget as both a revenue and an expense to comply with state law.

"We're balancing it with an expense so it doesn't look like a huge ball of cash we can spend," said Mark Johnson, the town's financial director. "It's written that way so it won't deceive people."

A JUDGE'S DECISIONS

Fines, fees and expenditures provided an unexpected revenue gain for Signal Mountain, budget records show. Officials attribute the increase to Town Judge Mark Rothburger.

"It's mostly traffic," Ms. Rogers said. "He's finding more people guilty and he's enforcing more court costs."

The $65,000 forecasted revenue from 2010's fines, fees and expenditures are a 39 percent increase from the $46,749 first predicted.

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