The Crossville City Council passed a new fiscal year budget Thursday that maintains the current property tax rate while adjusting utility fees to cover the cost of service.
Finance Director Nathan Clouse said the city will hold the property tax rate at 0.6059 for the upcoming 2026-2027 fiscal year. Clouse said the rate is effectively lower than it was in 1997 due to periodic reappraisals that have lowered the rate back down over the last 27 years.
“We were one of the lowest rates if not the lowest,” Clouse said. “There’s a sheet out there on the comptroller’s website that has all that listed. I haven’t looked at it in several months, but we were like in the top lowest 28, if I remember correctly.”
Council Member Mark Fox said the average tax rate for Tennessee municipalities with 10,000 to 25,000 residents is approximately $1.10. Fox said Crossville is performing well compared to other cities that do not have the high sales tax revenue seen in major hubs like Nashville or Gatlinburg.
The council approved a 25 percent increase for inside-city water and sewer rates to address a gap between the cost of production and what residents pay. Clouse said the cost to produce, transmit, and collect 1,000 gallons of water is approximately $9, while the new inside-city rate will be $7.85 per 1,000 gallons.
“When you look at the cost of production, the cost of transmission, the collections and all that, if you add all that up and divide it by how much water we are consuming to get an average rate per thousand, the inside city residents are paying less than what that cost is,” Clouse said. “It was roughly around $9 and something. So they’re still not going to be quite there, but it’s definitely an improvement.”
Clouse said the rate adjustment increased the projected water and sewer surplus from roughly $200,000 to $885,000. Clouse said the general fund budget also includes a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment and a 2 percent step increase for city employees.
“We’ve got those in there now as well, so that’s got all that adjusted and we’re at about $885,000. So that did a tremendous amount of work for the water/sewer to give them some stuff to work with,” Clouse said.
The city removed two major capital projects from the budget, including traffic light work on First Street and the installation of turf at the baseball fields. Clouse said the city also had to account for new expenses, including a $50,000 reimbursement to the county for reappraisal costs and approximately $56,000 for autopsies.
“If we have an autopsy coming from the police department, we ask for it,” Clouse said. “Usually the county would pay for that through their stuff, now the municipality’s going to have to pay for that.”
Chief Jesse Brooks said the police department averages six to eight autopsy requests per year, typically in cases of unattended deaths involving young people or suspicious circumstances. Brooks said while the county coroner usually makes the request, the city would be responsible for the $7,000 per-autopsy fee if the police department orders the procedure.
“We don’t work murders in our department, we turn it over to TBI and they take care of all of that,” Brooks said.
The council also authorized the fire department to apply for a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant to replace self-contained breathing apparatus. Brooks said the equipment is reaching the end of its 28-month life cycle and would cost approximately $706,000 to replace without grant funding.
In other business, the council approved an agreement with the Industrial Development Board regarding a $4.8 million loan for a commercial development district. Clouse said the agreement establishes sales tax as the primary repayment method, backed by a reserve account and a city shortfall guarantee.