June 30, 2010 State Certified Tax Rate for Hamblen County Is $1.86, NOT $1.85 as Found in the June 21st Tax Resolution

                                                                      

You really have to watch your local officials and tax rates in property re-appraisal years---like 2010.

Why? I was serving on commission during the last re-appraisal in 2005. We received the new state certified tax rate in our packets just a couple of days before a budget meeting.  Fortunately, I was familiar with the budget and tax rates. That's why it didn't take long for me to spot an error in the certified tax rate in our packets.

I reported the error to the Assessor who contacted the state. End result: the "new" state certified tax rate for 2005 was changed, REDUCING the tax rate for Hamblen Countians by around 10 or 11 cents. The state and/or locals probably rarely make a mistake on the certified tax rate. [Or maybe mistakes slip by because no one ever verifies the numbers.]  When I was on Commission, I tried to check and verify as much as I possibly could. By checking the certified tax rate in 2005 and getting it cut before any scheduled votes, I was able to save the taxpayers over $1 Million dollars in property taxes.

This year (2010) is also a re-appraisal year.  Commission Chair Stancil Ford has been pushing and pushing to get everything--including setting a new tax rate--wrapped up by June 30.  To help push things along, Stancil even moved the regular June 24 commission meeting to June 21 for a first vote on the new tax rate and budget. One of the documents above is the tax rate resolution that was prepared for the June 21 meeting that would have set the tax rate at $1.85 (countywide + garbage). [This post has been revised to correct a typo and show the uncertified rate proposed on 6/21 as 1.85]

At the beginning of the June 21st meeting, however, before any votes were taken, I reminded the Commission that because this is a re-appraisal year,  they could not vote on a tax rate--or a budget that depends on that tax rate--until the state certified tax rate is received.  Click here. Not only was there no certified tax rate ready on June 21st, but since there was no certified tax rate, no one could have checked the certified tax rate.

At the end of the 6/21 meeting, when the $1.85 tax rate resolution and budget came up, it was admitted that the certified tax rate had not been received and must be received before a tax rate and budget are passed.  No vote was taken.  A vote will probably be taken today at 5:00 PM in the Chancery Courtroom in the old part of the Courthouse.

How important is it that the commission heeded the warning not to vote on a tax rate or any other tax rate until the certified rate is received? 

Well, the state certified tax rate for Hamblen County--that arrived on June 28--is $1.86!  Had the commission voted on the tax rate resolution that was prepared and in their packets on June 21, they would have been violating state law that they wait for the certified tax rate before voting on a tax rate and budget and then they would have been stuck with $1.85 (taxpayers probably wish that had happened!) or they would have had to vote again and "explain" why they rushed the first rate through and are raising the rate to $1.86.  [Two of the documents above give the new new county basic rate ($1.65) and the sanitation rate ($0.21) for a total certified rate of $1.86.]

Haste makes waste. Trust but verify. You might save the taxpayers a boatload of money or save the commission from having to do multiple votes to finally get it right.

September 13, 2009 The Facts on Hamblen County's Payment of Unauthorized Car Allowances--Yes, Including Mayor David Purkey's Car Allowance

On August 20, 2009, Hamblen County Commission finally voted to come into compliance with long-standing state law and ceased paying car allowances to three individuals: Assessor Keith Ely, Marsha Hopkins, and Danny Young.

State law does not allow Hamblen County to pay car allowances. Click here to read the state attorney general's opinion 09-60 listing which three counties can provide car allowances (Knox, Bedford, and Dyer). See Page 2, Paragraph 3, and Page 3, Paragraph 3, stating that only Knox, Bedford, and Dyer can provide car allowances.

Despite the law and the attorney general's opinion, there is one individual in Hamblen County who still receives a "car allowance." That individual is County Mayor David Purkey.

Why, in the face of state law prohibiting car allowances in Hamblen County, does Mayor Purkey's "car allowance" continue to be paid? Because the mayor and the county attorney say that the mayor's car allowance is actually NOT a car allowance at all.

In a variation of the Clinton syndrome--the mayor and his attorney say that it all depends on what the meaning of "car allowance" is. What is unique about this word game is that the OFFICIAL WRITTEN PUBLIC DOCUMENTS (above) and the MAYOR'S OWN WORDS point out that the Mayor requested and received $600/month for a "car allowance."

(1) The Mayor's own letter and words (above) request a "car allowance" and then ask that the "car allowance" be paid through a salary increase;

(2) The Finance Committee minutes (above) that were prepared in the Mayor's office by the Mayor's staff show that a "car allowance" was voted on and approved; and

(3) The budget amendment (above) that was prepared in the Mayor's office by the Finance Director and approved by the county commission says that the $600/month is for a "car allowance" to be paid through a salary increase.

Purkey requested a "car allowance." [Click on page 1 and 2 of his letter of request above]. Purkey came to the Finance Committee and asked for and received a "car allowance." [Click on the Finance Committee minutes above].

Purkey's request for a "car allowance" was approved through a budget amendment prepared in his office by Finance Director Nicole Epps-Buchanan and later passed by Hamblen County Commission . [Click on the Budget Amendment for a "car allowance" above].

There will be further discussion of this matter on September 14, 2009, during the Finance Committee meeting that begins at 11:30 am in the conference room at the Hamblen County Health Department. [The Health Department is located next to the M-H Library on Main Street.]

Of course, the 11:30 am meeting time tomorrow makes it virtually impossible for most working people/taxpayers to attend without risking loss of job or income. Most commissioners, however, do not have to worry about work as most are retired, do not have a full-time job, or own their own business and do not have to ask for permission to leave work during the middle of the day with a loss of wages. See my previous post HERE that included discussion of meeting times.

It is my understanding that 12 of the 14 commissioners fall into one or more of the above categories: Larry Baker, Herbert Harville, Stancil Ford, Guy Collins, Paul Lebel, Nancy Phillips, Louis "Doe" Jarvis, Doyle Fullington, Dana Wampler, Reece Sexton, Joe Spoone, and Dennis Alvis.

In addition to excluding the working person/taxpayer, the 11:30 am meetings conclude with a taxpayer-provided lunch and drink for the commissioners. At the conclusion of previous committee meetings, some of the commissioners and county employees have even taken an extra (taxpayer-provided) lunchbox home for the spouse or family.

The old saying that there's no such thing as a free lunch, like so many old adages, obviously doesn't apply to government officials and employees!

There's nothing like scheduling meetings at times that for all practical purposes exclude the working/taxpaying public and then getting a free lunch out of it plus a free meal or two for the family.

Click here and here and here for previous posts on county car allowances.

Click here for a previous post where I publicly requested that meeting times be moved to a more taxpayer-friendly time.

August 11, 2009 Taxpayers Will Have To Continue To Pay for Unauthorized Car Allowances

Hamblen County is not authorized to pay car allowances to county officials. But Hamblen County pays them anyway.

Hamblen County is not authorized to provide a car or vehicle for full-time use of salaried county officials. But Hamblen County provides vehicles anyway.

And yesterday, despite state law and an attorney general's opinion, the county commission took no action to stop the unauthorized payment of car allowances and/or the unauthorized provision of vehicles for the full-time use of salaried county officials.

Instead, Hamblen County Commissioners voted to continue using taxpayer dollars to make car allowance payments while they "study" the issue.

State law regarding cars and car allowances has been on the books for years. The attorney general's opinion on cars and car allowances was made public in April 2009. The county attorney gave his opinion on cars and car allowances in May 2009. But in June 2009, the county budget was passed----WITH UNAUTHORIZED CAR ALLOWANCE PAYMENTS.

In July 2009, I asked the commission to stop the unauthorized payments. They did not do so. They sent the issue back to the August Finance Committee.

Yesterday the Finance Committee met and did not resolve the issue. Unauthorized taxpayer dollars continue to be spent while commission "studies" the situation. How long does it take to stop unauthorized payments? How many taxpayer dollars will be wasted while a study is made?

Who gets car allowances? Well, according to the county attorney, only three people get a car allowance: Assessor of Property Keith Ely ($169.32/month); Marsha Hopkins, an employee in Ely's office ($224.36/month); and Planning Director Danny Young ($350.00/month).

In the opinion of the county attorney, County Mayor David Purkey's $600/month "car allowance" is not really a car allowance. Why? Because when the Mayor requested a "car allowance," the "car allowance" was paid as a salary increase. So, in the county attorney's opinion, if someone requests a "car allowance" and if you make the "car allowance"/car expenses payment as a salary increase, suddenly it is not a "car allowance" at all.

Of course, to accept this line of reasoning, you have to totally ignore all the documents that say the $600/month is a "car allowance." The county attorney would even ignore the budget amendment-- prepared in the Mayor's office--that says "budget amendment for salary adjustment for car allowance at $600 per month."

UPDATE: See Post for September 5, 2009, for county commission's August 20 vote to stop unauthorized "car allowances" in order to come into compliance with state law.

Yep, in today's world of government entitlement and perks, in Hamblen County it all depends on what the meaning of car allowance is. It's a crying shame that a man making $83,000/year who rarely shows up in his office is so greedy that he demands an extra $7,200 taxpayer dollars so he can buy a car for himself, increase his retirement take, and make over $90,000/year plus insurance and other benefits.

Why can't the Mayor drive himself to work---like most workers do---and then check out a county car if he has county business to attend to? Or why can't he drive himself to work and then charge the county for mileage---like many county employees do---when he uses his own car for county business? Or, instead of giving the Mayor a $600/month car allowance, why doesn't the county use that $600/month ($7,200/year) to buy the county another car that can be checked out by the Mayor or others as needed?

And through it all Stancil Ford, the protector, runs interference for the County Mayor. Stancil and many other commissioners just don't understand what the average person in Hamblen County faces every day. The commission blithely gives $7,200/year of taxpayer dollars as a car allowance to a County Mayor who is already making $83,000/year so he can top off at $90,000/year and boost his already cushy state retirement.

There is never a thought to the fact that part of the Mayor's car allowance and salary comes from the widow living on a fixed income of $550/month ($6,600/year) in social security benefits, from the recently laid-off worker, from the individual who has no health insurance, and from the family that scrimps and saves to get by while the government throws more money and more perks at the richest government officials and employees.

In October 2006, only one person on the commission opposed giving the Mayor an extra $7,200/year. That person was Ricky Bruce. Ricky and I have disagreed and still disagree on many spending issues, but this is one where Ricky clearly got it right.

When the county commission said "no" to raises for county employees this year, they said "yes" once again to giving the Mayor $7,200 for a car allowance. IF that money is to be spent at all, take away the car allowance and buy the county a car instead of giving the Mayor money to buy himself a car at taxpayer expense.

Oh, and the county attorney added that the Mayor and others who get a car allowance don't even have to drive their own car on county business. They can take the car allowance and do what they want with it and then check out a county car and drive it on official business. That's one heck of a deal. The Mayor gets a car allowance salary increase but he can still use county cars or have others--like Eric Carpenter in his big new county Ford Expedition--drive him to Nashville and other destinations unknown.

September 15, 2005 Several departments respond quickly to vehicle request

See my post of September 13: COUNTY INVENTORY.

After reviewing the 6/30/05 County Inventory, I asked Finance Director Nicole Epps at a September 12 Finance Committee meeting if she would get mileage and condition information for all county vehicles listed on the county inventory. [County Commission passed a resolution almost two years ago that it wanted to have this information on an annual basis.]

Nicole Epps' boss (County Mayor David Purkey) was also at the Finance meeting. After I asked her for the information, she told me that it was not required by the auditors and then her boss (County Mayor David Purkey) said that I would have to ask each elected official and department head directly for that information myself.

Well, I'm not shy about asking for information, so I went ahead on September 13 and began sending out e-mails at about 3:35 pm requesting this information from officials and department heads.

About 45 minutes after I sent out my first e-mail request, I received a copy of an e-mail from Finance Director Nicole Epps showing that she was suddenly starting to request the information for me.

I was surprised by her e-mail since I had specifically asked her on September 12 if she would get this information and her response then was that it wasn't "required" and her boss's response (Mayor Purkey) then was that I would have to request it myself from each department.

I e-mailed her back that I had already started to get the information myself like I'd been told to, and we didn't need to duplicate our efforts.

Let's be realistic. County Mayor David Purkey detests financial questions. Since I ask them and actually follow through to get the answers (from others if necessary), County Mayor David Purkey detests me. He has made that evident in three years of vicious personal attacks.

I think that most of the anger that causes him to blow up so often can be traced to my proposal after taking office to have the state auditors perform the county audit in 2003.

The state auditors came in and suddenly Hamblen County, which had only one audit finding or problem reported by the local auditors in the 2002 audit, had 29 findings of irregularities and violations of state law in the 2003 audit. That was more findings than any other county in the whole state.

Mayor Purkey's anger bubbles to the surface every time I ask a question or try to get information. He even got upset when the full commission asked him to do something really simple--like put a county decal on his county car. Now, why in the world did he blow up and refuse to put a Hamblen County decal on the car that the taxpayers provide for him (along with gas, insurance, and maintenance costs, too)? Go figure.

FORTUNATELY, MOST COUNTY OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENTS HEADS ARE CO-OPERATIVE, CIVIL, AND POLITE WHEN QUESTIONS ARE ASKED...

In my September 13 post, I mentioned that most elected officials and department heads are responsive and willing to share information about county (taxpayer) property.

Well, I want you to know that one official responded more quickly than anyone could have imagined. Assessor of Property Keith Ely sent the mileage and condition information back on the same day I sent the request. Keith is one of the most open and accessible elected officials around, and he is always willing to discuss and provide information about his office.

I worked with Keith about two months ago when I called him to let him know that I had found what appeared to be a rather large error in the new state-certified property tax rate that the state had sent us and that our Trustee and Finance Department were using in calculating our county revenues and budgeted expenditures. After my call to Keith, he called the state and asked them to review and check our new property tax rate.


The state agreed that it had made an error and sent back a corrected figure that reduced the new property tax rate for Hamblen County taxpayers by 11 cents. That 11 cents meant a total savings to county taxpayers of nearly $1.2 million dollars, and it was all taken care of in one day.


There are several other officials who have already responded to the request for vehicle information: Eric Carpenter (EMA), Danny Young (Planning Commission), and Cyndi Trent (Juvenile Court).

It will probably take a few days for a response from the Sheriff and the Road Superintendent/Garbage Dept. because those are the two departments that have the largest number of vehicles.

There are just one or two other departments that haven't responded yet, but I'm sure they will because, as I have said before, most elected officials and department heads are very open and very willing to share information about county (taxpayer) property.