The full Carter County Commission brought forward the third iteration of the Planning Commission’s budget proposal, and though the margin was closer than the previous two attempts, the furthered failure to pass the one remaining department budget represents a continued point of contention for commissioners for the past month.

The Planning Commission, after a Monday afternoon meeting directly before the commission, made several changes from the June 3 budget proposal, including dropping Director Chris Schuettler’s pay scale from $65,000 to $56,640.10; dropping GIS charges from $14,000 to $5,500 and completely cutting budgeted electrical permit and stormwater-TDEC charges, saving roughly $56,100 in those changes alone, not including several insurance cost changes. Finance Director Brad Burke said the health insurance changes were the result of miscalculations from June 3.

“This was a compromise,” Commissioner Robert Acuff said. “I think this is quite acceptable.”

The proposal failed for a third time with an 11/10 vote and two abstained votes, missing the required majority by a single vote.

Among those in favor were Robert Acuff, Mike Hill, Bradley Johnson, Charles von Cannon, Jerry Proffitt, Austin Jaynes, Ross Garland, Ginger Holdren, Sonja Culler, Robin McKamey and Kelly Collins. Those against included Willie Campbell, Mark Blevins, Nancy Brown, Patty Woodby, Ronnie Trivett, Isaiah Grindstaff, Layla Ward, Gary Bailey, Travis Hill and Aaron Frazier. Randall Jenkins and newly-appointed Commissioner David Miller abstained from the vote, and Ray Lyons was absent for the meeting.

A wrinkle in the proposal, however, came from the salaries themselves. Despite controversy over the proposed increases in pay beyond the county’s overall pay increase, which has been a central point of conversation since the first proposal failed, proposed pay increases for the Planning Commission remained largely unchanged. Schuettler’s pay was the only personnel pay decrease between June 3 and Monday’s proposal, a line item that decreased by $8,359.90 between proposals.

Commissioner Ross Garland said the continued disagreements over the pay increases are causing some members of the commission to take the discussion personally.

“We are not trying to see eye-to-eye on this,” Garland said.

Commissioner Mike Hill pointed out the new budget proposal essentially eliminates economic development from the committee’s responsibilities, but the commission disagreed on what measures would need to occur in order to fill the empty space.

Commissioner Travis Hill said he spoke with Elizabethton City Planner Jon Hartman, the latter of whom said he was willing to take on the county’s economic development responsibilities at no charge.

Some commissioners pointed towards the joint economic and community development board, but county attorney Josh Hardin said that alone would not be sufficient.

“You are not going to have day-to-day activity with this unless you have someone to do it,” Hardin said.

Once again, the Planning Committee has 10 business days to submit a new proposal, which will go before a special session of the County Commission at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 1.

In addition, the commission appointed David Miller to fill Rick Richardson’s seat until the 2020 election cycle, while Travis Hill will take Richardson’s position on the Financial Management Committee.