On Monday members of the Carter County Commission will debate a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year as well as tackle an agenda full of other business items.

During last month’s meeting the full Commission received copies of the proposed budget which was approved by the Budget Committee. The proposed budget includes a 9-cent property tax rate increase as well as funding cuts to outside agencies.

The proposed increase would set the county’s property tax rate at $2.56 per 100 of assessed value.

Taxes are assessed based on one-quarter of the appraised property value. For example, if a property’s appraised value is $100,000 the owner is only assessed taxes on $25,000 at a rate of $2.56 for every $100 of the assessed amount.

One portion of the proposed budget that has drawn questions and backlash from the community was the Budget Committee’s decision to cut funding to outside community service agencies such as the Senior Center and the Boys & Girls Club as a way of reducing county expenditures.

When the budget process began of for the year, Budget Committee Chairwoman Sonja Culler said the committee was starting out with a deficit of $439,000 created during last year’s budget process when the Commission voted to balance the budget using money from the general fund balance rather than funding it through the tax rate. That deficit meant the county would have to raise the property rate by 5 cents this year to balance last year’s budget expenditures. That would not cover any increased expenditures for this year, such as an increase in the cost of employee health insurance premiums or the state-mandated raises for elected officials.

After all the budget requests were received, County Finance Director Brad Burke said it would have taken a tax increase of 16 cents to fund all of the budget requests.

Members of the Budget Committee worked with office holders to make cuts where they were able and whittled down the amount of additional revenue needed to around $750,000. Each penny on the tax rate brings in $83,350.87. To increase revenue to cover the needed $750,000 would require a tax rate increase of 9 cents.

To set the budget for the coming fiscal year, the Commission will have to approve a series of resolutions — one setting the tax rate, one setting the appropriations to various funds and departments, and one setting the outside agencies appropriations.

Commissioners will also consider a resolution approving tax relief for elderly and disabled taxpayers.

In other business during the July 16 Commission meeting, the commissioners will consider a resolution that started as a proposal from Carter County Trustee Randal Lewis to set a new policy for acceptance of partial payments of property taxes.

Currently, county policy allows property owners to pay their taxes in four installments. Under the policy proposed by Lewis, taxpayers could stretch their tax bill out across 12 monthly payments.

Commissioners will also consider a resolution allowing the county to take out a $500,000 capital outlay note to be repaid over the next three fiscal years to fund a renovation project at the Carter County Courthouse. The project is slated to improve security at the courthouse by creating a single point of entry to the buildings, installing electronic locks, and upgrading security systems within the building.

Also on the agenda for Monday is a public hearing on the proposed closure of River Edge Lane to accommodate construction of Pleasant Beach Baptist Church and four property re-zoning requests.

The Carter County Commission will meet on Monday, July 16, at 6 p.m. in the courtroom located on the second floor of the Carter County Courthouse.