Cookeville’s new budget includes no property tax increase and a “safe approach” based on unknowns in the economy.
City Manager James Mills presented the budget to the City Council Thursday. The proposed $244 million budget includes a $2,000 market adjustment for all full-time employees and a merit raise of up to two percent based on performance.
“There’s a lot of unknowns out there, so we wanted to be careful with how we allocated money for the coming year,” Mills said. “And we’re also conservative in our anticipated revenues. We’re very safe in this budget. And you know we’re protected I believe if some things do have a downturn but if we have things you know go for the better then we’re going to be able to do more things and afford more different improvements and hopefully additional personnel.”
Mills said leadership focused on capital infrastructure, employee wages and benefits, and future growth preparation in building this year’s budget.
Cookeville is currently undergoing a property reappraisal year, which will cause the actual tax rate to drop significantly to remain revenue neutral.
“Whatever our tax rate is has to equal what we currently are bringing in unless you vote a tax increase but we’re not proposing that,” Mills said.
The new budget proposal includes adjusting all starting pay grades by $2,000 to help attract new workers. Mills said he is concerned the city needs to do more.
“My biggest concern is for those lowest paid and in lots of cases, guys, they’re some of the hardest workers we’ve got,” Mills said. “And we need to stay competitive but we need to pay them a fair wage.”
Mills said 60 percent of the city’s employees would receive at least a three percent raise, if the budget is improved. The total impact of employee pay changes stands at some $1.8 million.
“We think we’ve done all we can do this year, but we need to do more,” MIlls said.
Mills and the council have made strides since 2020 in improving employee pay. Mills said some have increased over 40 percent. Police officers, for example, have seen a $16,000 increase, firefighters some $14,000.
The city will see a slight increase in retirement benefits. Medical, dental and vision benefits will increase for the first time in three years, by between three and four percent.
The budget includes four new positions, three of which will be full time.
Cookeville expects to receive its new certified property tax rate from the state in July before finalizing the exact penny rate.