In an online poll featured on the Elizabethton Star’s website this week, an overwhelming majority of those who participated said they oppose the county’s proposed funding cuts to outside agencies.

The Elizabethton Star recently launched a poll feature on its website, www.elizabethton.com, to receive feedback from our readers regarding some of the issues affecting our community. Each week the poll will feature a new question selected by the STAR’s Editorial Board. A new question will be posted each Friday, the results from the poll will be printed in the following week’s Weekend Edition of the STAR.

For the first question of the new poll feature, the Editorial Board selected a topic that impacts all residents of Carter County — the proposed county budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Carter County Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposed budget during the group’s meeting on July 16.

After a series of workshops and meetings, members of the Budget Committee approved a proposed budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year that includes a 9 cent property tax rate increase as well as cuts to several outside agencies that provide services for local residents.

Among the agencies who stand to lose funding from the county are the Elizabethton Senior Center, the Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County, The Shepherd’s Inn domestic violence shelter, Imagination Library, and the Elizabethton Parks & Recreation Department. During a public hearing on the proposed budget, several residents spoke out against cutting funding to those agencies, saying they provide essential services for the community.

The STAR decided to ask its readers to weigh in on the proposed cuts. For the first online poll, the STAR asked “Do you support the County’s proposed funding cuts to community service organizations like the Boys & Girls Club and Senior Center?”

On Friday morning, the poll was closed to voting. Of the 69 people who responded to the poll, 82.61 percent (or 57 readers) said they did not support the funding cuts. Only 17.39 percent (12 readers) said they favored cutting allocations to the service organizations.

When this year’s budget process began, members of the Budget Committee began looking for ways to cut expenses because the county was facing a substantial property tax rate increase to cover rising expenditures. The committee ultimately decided to cut allocations to non-mandated outside agencies and to approve no additional funding for those outside agencies still receiving funds.

The following agencies received funding from Carter County during the 2017-18 fiscal year but will not receive any for 2018-19 if the current proposed budget is approved:

• American Red Cross ($1,425)

• Elizabethton Senior Center ($14,584)

• Retired Senior Volunteer Program ($1,010)

• Carter County Imagination Library ($5,000)

• Elizabethton Parks & Recreation ($11,394)

• Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County ($9,595)

• The Shepherd’s Inn ($12,000)

• Children’s Advocacy Center ($2,500)

• Butler Volunteer Fire Department ($20,000)

To restore funding at last year’s levels to those agencies would require $77,508. With current property values in Carter County, each penny on the tax rate brings in $83,350.87. In order to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of restoring funding to those agencies, the Commission would need to add an additional penny to the tax rate or cut enough money out of other budgets to balance out.

Budget Committee Chairwoman Sonja Culler told those in attendance at the public hearing on the budget that the committee is looking into alternatives to finding funding for the outside agencies that were cut from this year’s proposed budget. The County Commission recently approved a resolution directing the county to send a request to the state for the return of unclaimed funds from judgments and tax sales. It is not clear how much, if any, money the county would recover from the state, but Culler said the committee is looking into the possibility of using those funds to provide support to outside agencies.

If the Commission were to approve the budget as currently proposed, it would set the county’s property tax rate at $2.56 per $100 of assessed property value. If the Commission decides to add a penny to the tax rate to restore funding to outside agencies, the tax rate would then become $2.57 per $100 of assessed property value.

According to DataUSA, a research organization that compiles government statistical data, the average property value for Carter County is $111,500. Under the current tax rate of $2.47, the tax owed on a property valued at $111,500 would be $688.50. At the proposed tax rate of $2.56, the taxes owed would be $713.60. Adding an additional penny to the tax rate would raise the tax payment on the property by about $2.79 for the year.

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Next week’s poll question went live on the Elizabethton Star website on Friday morning. This week the STAR Editorial Board is posing the question: Should a candidate who loses a primary election be allowed to launch a write-in campaign in the general election? Visit www.elizabethton.com and scroll down the right side of the page to find the poll question and let the STAR know what you think.