Appreciation expressed by commissioners for all the firefighters who battle transfer station fire

TOP PHOTO: Commissioner David Adkins, right, read resolution 8-2 into record on Monday evening. The resolution was regarding a budget amendment to cover additional costs of an excavator to be used by the county’s sanitation department.

By Charlotte Underwood 

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- County Commissioners approved the consolidated budget and individual fund budget at Monday’s regular meeting, along with the tax levy resolution for this fiscal year. Also approved was a budget amendment to cover additional costs for the purchase of an excavator for the sanitation department.

Commissioners approved the certified tax rate as set by the state last month and this month, approved the county’s tax levy, keeping it the same as the certified tax rate. The rate has come down from $2.0659 to $1.2156.

Commissioner Rusty Orick spoke after making his motion to approve the tax levy, clarifying that the county had not raised taxes and that taxes were in fact going down after the recent property reappraisal.

“I just want it to be known to the public and I’m sure they’re aware of it that we’re not raising taxes this year. We’ve had a reappraisal year, and it was based on the numbers that were sent into the Comptroller’s Office and sent back to the county commission, so we have not raised taxes. We have actually lowered the tax rate, but it was because of the reappraisal and the adjustment on the taxes by the comptroller,” Orick said.

Also approved was a budget amendment resolution to fund the additional costs for the purchase of an excavator for the County’s Sanitation Department.

The county’s Caterpillar Excavator was destroyed during the recent fire at the Towe String Road Transfer Station that occurred on August 11.  The replacement of the equipment is “of primary importance” to facilitate the processing of the daily trash intake and the insurance company processed the claim on the equipment as quickly as possible.

The excavator that was destroyed was valued at $241,530, after the $1,000 insurance deductible, the county received $240,530 net insurance recovery proceeds.

Stowers Equipment of Knoxville has been awarded the state bid for Caterpillar Excavators and “fortunately” has the correct excavator in stock for a price of $257,017. To purchase the excavator required a realignment of $16,487 to the existing equipment appropriations to address the cost difference.

The excavator will be delivered to the county this week.

Commissioner Rusty Orick and other commissioners said they wanted to say thank you to the fire departments for their quick responses to the fire. Orick and several other commissioners were at the fire that Sunday.

“Thanks to the quick response of the fire departments, they got it covered very quickly. It was multiple agencies that spent multiple hours, and I want to thank them, and I’m sure the commission wants to thank them also. They were there within 15 to 20 minutes of the fire first being noticed and they stayed there all the way through the end, and we appreciate that,” Orick said.

County commissioners also approved an amendment to an Interlocal agreement between LaFollette Utility Board and Campbell County government regarding water line extension projects.

According to Commissioner Rusty Orick the amendment to the agreement is just “cleaning the language up” and deducting several water-line extension areas out of the agreement because the funding is not there yet and “having those listed in this agreement makes it confusing.”

“We just need to clean the language up; it needs re-stated and sent back to LUB. That’s not taking away from these projects, we just don’t have the funding at the time, so we will address them at a later time when we get the funding,” Orick said.

In other business, a health department contract with telehealth provider Cyracom was approved.

Several appointments to the Campbell County Library Board were approved, as was A BOE lease agreement with Canon for a printer at Jacksboro Elementary School.

Final business approved was the application for multiple grants for the Campbell County Sheriff’s Department, including a TCI Equipment grant, a mental health transport grant and a TN School Resource Officer Grant. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 08/20/2024-6AM)

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