County sales tax collections remain above budget
Local option sales taxes are primarily used for funding the county's Board of Education General Purpose School Fund budget.
Jennifer Turner, Cumberland County finance director, gave the financial report during February's Cumberland County Commission meeting.
Turner said it was a bit too early in the month to receive the results for February.
Turner reported property tax collections were 67% of budget; Hotel/motel tax collections were 53.19% at $665,514 of a $1.25 million budget; and prisoner boarding collections from the state were 72% at $280,399 of a $386,952 budget.
She said county EMS collections for the ambulance service remained below budget by $193,095 for year-to-date collections. Turner said she anticipated collection funds to increase in the coming months due to some billing issues through the county's third party billing company, AMB Billing Service. The county's annual budgeted projection for the fiscal year is $4.5 million, which requires $375,000 per month of revenue collections.
The county commission approved the following budget amendments for the county general fund:
• $1,700 for the Cumberland County Fire Department to purchase a piece of property from the Calvary Church in the Big Lick community that was previously leased.
• $3,000 for the Clerk and Master's office to purchase data processing equipment.
• $5,874 for the EMS department to purchase a new phone system.
• $6,400 for the sheriff's office to award supplements from the state to school resource officers for completing Peace Officers Standards Training.
• $16,275 for the property assessor's office for employee in service training; maintenance agreements; other supplies and materials; and premiums on corporate surety bonds.
• $52,461 for the sheriff's office to accept funding for the transport and support of mental health patients and the purchase of a vehicle for transport.
• $30,000 for the county commission to contribute to the Fairfield Glade Community Club toward the construction of a new fire hall that will include a bay to house county ambulances, a commons area, kitchen, four bunk rooms and two offices.
• $36,526 for the sheriff's office to replace the original phone system from 1991 in the office. The phone system is in need of repairs.
The county commission approved the following budget amendments for the Cumberland County Board of Education:
• $250 to accept a donation for the coordinated school health director.
• $1,148.75 for a revision to a recruitment and retention grant.
• $1,300 to accept donations from citizen groups for South Cumberland and Pine View elementary schools.
• $2,762 for the Central Cafeteria Fund for a freezer repair at the Phoenix School.
• $8,379.36 for the Central Cafeteria Fund for USDA foods and commodity delivery costs.
• $11,532 to complete bus purchases for the 2024-'25 fiscal year.
• $14,988.56 to accept refunds from the Tennessee Risk Management Trust safety program.
• $20,000 to accept citizen donations for Homestead, North Cumberland, Frank P. Brown elementary schools and Stone Memorial High School.
• $73,364.04 for a revision to Innovative School Models state grant funds for the county school system.
• $135,500 to accept a state and federal GEAR UP Grant.
• $724,480 for a revision of Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement funding for the school system.
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