Mayor: Superintendent should tout plan

Met with mayor Tim Buchett and the county's soon-to-be new finance director, Burton Webb, (as well as Big John Troyer, Casual Chris Caldwell and Big Sexy Grider) today to talk about a few things.

Part of that conversation was about the budget. Obviously the mayor and schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre have talked about the schools' whopping $47 million in coin request for next year. (Remember $35 of it is new, new money and the rest is natural growth.)

Apparently, McIntyre – according to Burchett – wanted the mayor to sell this plan to the public.

“Jim said if you vote for this you can win the next election,” the mayor said.

Burchett's response?

“I said: 'Look, I'll let you make your case for it,' and that's what I'm doing right now.”

Burchett said he'll present the budget to the County Commission in early May. He suggested that he would take care of “the $7 million shortfall we knew we would have,” referring to the folding paper that the federal government will no longer give the county.

He said that he told the superintendent not to rely too much on the Knoxville Chamber and concentrate more on counting heads and collecting votes. (I assume he was referring to the 11-member commission.)

“I've taken into consideration everything he wants but I'm not going to raise taxes,” Burchett said. “I told McIntyre that I'm going to let him make that case (to the public) but I'm not sure he made the case to me?

Uh, what case exactly?

“That money will be well invested, that the money invested will raise test scores,” Burchett said.

So, essentially, the mayor is saying that the superintendent will have until early May to convince him to add the extra scratch in the budget. Which isn't happening. Then, it's out of Buchett's hands. The mayor added that he doesn't expect the public nor the commission to support the plan.

He also said he was concerned that even if the commission agreed to increase taxes by 35 cents that other officeholders “would want a piece of the pie” and the 35 cents would turn into “50 plus cents.”

I asked Burchett a number of times and in a number of different ways whether any portion of McIntyre's request would be funded – even without a tax increase – and his answers were always foggy. I'm going to ask the Magic Eight Ball next time.

Later, he called and said “there will be something extra in there, I'm sure.”

But, again, he wouldn't say how much.

Chatter review committee onto other stuff

At this point, the Sheriff's Office pension plan has received most of the attention of the Knox County Charter Review Committee, which will be henceforth known as the "Chatter" Review Committee (shout out to the rogue blogger for the assignation).

However, the unwieldy 27-member panel has voted on a couple of items - housekeeping mostly - that will more than be put on the November ballot. (The board has to vote twice and then the county law department has to review it.)

Here's a look so far at the proposed amendments to the Knox County charter that were approved on first reading last night:

Strike through shows deletions

Bold show additions

Sec. 1.02. Private and local affairs.

With regard to private and local affairs, all lawful powers are vested in the Executive of Knox County and the Commission of Knox County, except those powers reserved to the judiciary., Board of Education, and elected Charter and Constitutional Officers as defined by the Constitution of the State of Tennessee.

Sec. 2.02.I. Other powers.

I. By resolution, the Commission may appoint members to those boards and commissions the County Commission deems necessary in the furtherance of its duties and responsibilities under this Charter or as provided by state law. of the following boards and commissions: Knox County Board of Adjustments and Enforcement; Knox County Agricultural Extension Committee; Knox County Air Pollution Control Board; Knox County Ambulance Review Commission; Knox County Board of Construction Standards and Applications; Knox County Board of Equalization; Knox County Board of Health; Knox County Housing Authority; Knox County Jail Inspection Committee; Knox County Library Board of Trustees; The Public Building Authority of the County of Knox and the City of Knoxville, Tennessee; Knox County Old Records Commission; Knox County Sheriff's Department Merit System Council; and two members of Knox County Personnel Board. All such appointees shall be residents of Knox County at the time of their appointment and at all times while serving on said board or commission. The Commission shall have the authority, by resolution, to remove and discharge all such members for good cause shown.

Sec. 2.02.A. Other powers.

A. The Commission is vested with all other powers of the government of Knox County not specifically, or by necessary implication, vested in some other official of the County by the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, by this Charter or by law not inconsistent with this Charter. However, neither the Commission nor the Chairman(woman) of the Commission shall exercise any powers or perform any functions of the County Government which are vested, by the terms of this Charter, in either the Executive Branch or the Judicial Branch. in the Executive Branch, Judicial Branch, Board of Education, and elected Charter and Constitutional Officers as defined by the Constitution of the State of Tennessee.

It should probably be noted that there is no such thing as a constitutional officer in Knox County, but since it's a little detail it probably doesn't matter. I mean, you know, we ignored term limits for about a decade. Why sweat this?

Call in Pigpen to get more than Peanuts

Was reading around, looking at the school system's proposed zillion dollar budget and thinking about how painful it's gonna be to sit in on those budget meetings. Lot of showboating gonna take place on the county commission dais. Lot of arguing, too. Heh. Stated the obvious.

Anyhoo, I'm wondering if this year will be any different. Because it's going to have to be if the school people want the budget passed. The commission isn't going to listen to Superintendent Jim McIntyre. There's a few board members who just flat out don't like him. (They don't like me either, so he shouldn't feel bad.) And the school board? Heh. Quite a few on the commission just don't trust the school board.

So, if they want that plan to succeed – and really, it's highly unlikely that it will – they're going to need the teachers and principals to get out to the meetings. If I was McIntyre, I'd shake down every one of them that I could. Drag them kicking and screaming to the podium to argue my case. Do it for the children.

Heck, I'd find the poorest kid in the school system and drag him up there, too. Man, I'm talking Pigpen from the Peanuts. Dust would be swirling, kids would be crying and the violins would be a playing.

And I'd be counting my few extra million.

(Cause let's face it, they're not getting all of the $47 million McIntyre is requesting. But, there's a chance the commission could give the schools some additional coin. So long as Pigpen is there.)

UPDATE: Dan "The Man" Andrews called in to note that even if Pigpen was a member of the mayor's fraternity, the "school system isn't getting no $35 million." Point. But maybe the commission . . .

25 things you would love to say at work

This picture made me laugh. Figured I'd pass it around. If you do happen to use any of these lines, please share your story. Heh. I really liked the "screw up fairy" personally.

How much would tax increase really cost?

Yesterday I posted about a phone survey taken last week and whether residents were on board with raising taxes to fund the proposed school budget for the upcoming fiscal year. In addition, I encouraged folks to get in on the conversation over at the hippie's blog, which you can find right smack here.

Anyhoo, school board Vice Chairwoman Indya Kincannon responded to the entry about the Focus poll, noting that it's all in how you frame the question. She agreed that the tax increase would amount to more than 14 percent, but that the numbers might not be as high.

For example, someone who pays $900 per year in taxes would need to ante up another $137 a year to pay for Superintendent Jim McIntyre's plan. She said that's a little more than $2.60 a week.

By my math that's about a couple of sodas (and not even a six-pack of brew unless you drink that real cheap stuff, and if that's the case, you should probably quit drinking).

Anyhoo, Indya wondered what the poll results might have looked like if the questions was framed (I'm paraphrasing here): Would you be willing to pay an extra $2.60 in coin per week to support the children?

In the meantime, she put together a pretty cool property tax worksheet that shows the costs if taxes were raised. The $2.63 per week by the way applies to the median Knox County homeowner ($156,500 house).

You can find the complete table right smack here.

UPDATE: Super PR guy Mike Cohen sent me a note, saying he liked Indya's chart, but that a lot of taxes in Knox County are paid by businesses, which are valued at 40 percent, not 25 percent. He suggested it would be good to do a chart for them. Of course, my laziness is well-documented so . . . . Indya also sent me a note, saying that $2.63 is less than a gallon of milk and less than a gallon of gas, and way less than many parents contribute to their PTAs and classroom supply lists.

'We Back Pat' billboard at Deathstar

This morning, there will be a "We Back Pat" billboard over at the Deathstar on the main floor near the information desk. The good county Mayor Tim Burchett will make some brief remarks about it at 10 a.m. (I believe the billboard, which you can sign will be there until 3 p.m.)

All of this, of course, comes from a spin release provided by county spin doc Michael "Big Sexy" Grider. At some point, I figure, the city's $250,000 a year spin control public relations team will send out a similar release.

Or not.

Anyhoo, click right smack here to get more information and look at the fancy flyer regarding the event that where you can show your support for college basketball legend Pat Summitt and all families living with Alzheimer's disease.

Poll: "No" to school budget tax increase

The Knoxville Focus, which I've long erroneously called the “Fountain City” Focus (I'm issuing my correction here, unlike TV which doesn't issue any corrections – you know who you are), has a new feature thing type deal that publisher Steve Hunley is doing.

He's got one of those phone soliciting companies calling people up, to ask a weekly question. According to last week's Focus “those being polled will be registered voters and this will give folks a unique opportunity to voice their thoughts and opinions.”

The paper, which you can find right smack here, says the point is “to get a genuine sampling of the prevailing opinion among those who care enough about our community to participate.”

Hunley said the poll is conducted by an independent, professional company and is not a push poll. He said he and the company craft the question and then the researchers ask a “statistically significant sample” of people near their phone until they get 500 responses. Then, the Focus will publish the results.

Hunley said the questions will be about taxes, schools, local government, etc., and that they'll come from his staff and readers.

“We want to know what the people think,” he said.

The paper posed its first question on Friday. The survey said:

The current Knox County property tax rate is $2.36 per $100 of assessed property value. Knox County School Superintendent James McIntyre has requested $35 million in new revenue for the school system. This would require an additional 35 cents or 14.83 percent increase in property taxes. Do you support this proposed tax increase?

The results? 25.95 percent of the people said “Yes” and 74.05 percent said “No.”

Again, you can find all this right smack here (just click on this week's edition). Hunley told me that he's got the results broken down by district, age, gender, etc., but he wasn't going to give me all that info. Heh. But, he said, no district favored raising taxes. He said the closest was a roughly 60-40 vote, but didn't tell me which district. I think I can guess. Probably the hippies.

By the way, there isn't technically a proposed tax increase at this point, but county Mayor Tim Burchett has said that the only way to pay for the school system's request is through one. The County Commission, ultimately, will have to make the decision.

Jarret, Armstrong meet, move forward

Georgiana Vines in her column – click right smack here – on Saturday provided some insight into incoming Knox County Law Director Bud Armstrong’s plans. She noted that Bud and his former political foe and GOP primary challenger Joe Jarret were gonna meet today.

They did, according to Jarret, who will leave office at the end of August. And the meeting went pretty well.

He said the office ordered coffee and bagels and held a small reception for Bud as employees introduced themselves. Also along for the ride was local GOP Chairman Ray Jenkins, who – according to Jarret – will lead Armstrong’s transition team.

Not sure that works. I know presidents have transition teams. But law directors?????

Heh.

Anyhoo, Joe said everyone “was very cordial and Bud and I both agreed that was best for everyone and for the county was to put everything behind us and have a completely seamless transition.”

He said he has an empty office that he offered to let Bud use and said he’s putting together a transition notebook for him.

“I told him I’ll share everything I can except those things privileged by law,” Jarret said.

Joe said he, Ray and Bud talked about “the challenges (i.e. charter review) that lie ahead as (Bud) takes over,” but didn’t go into many details, noting that whatever he told me would make its way onto Screams from da Porch.

That’s about it.

Bud takes office Sept. 1.

As Georgiana noted, Bud told her that David Buuck is on his list for a possible gig in the law director’s office. To my knowledge there’s only one open position and that’s for law director junior (or whatever the right-hand man or woman position is called). Joe never filled the job, opting to do all of it himself. That’s not to say Buuck will get it. Bud could promote someone and then fill that position.

Ray has said publicly that he has no plans to join the department.

Oh wait, one more thing. You might have noticed that Georgiana reported that Bud would have people representing him or whatever at the charter review committee meetings. He wouldn’t, however, tell her who they were.

That’s strange. But whatever. It’s not like you can’t look around the room and figure it out.

Ballard for district attorney? What the . . .

So, I was in the Atlanta area (a little south actually) for part of the weekend. And I saw this refrigerator magnet. Actually, I'd seen it before, years ago, I think, but I took a picture of it this time. Thought it funny. Figured I'd share it. Heh.

Commission to discuss Midway PILOT

First, my boy Josh Flory over at the Property Scope has the latest on the Midway court slugfest. Click right smack here for it. And, speaking of which . . . the County Commission on Monday will talk more about a proposed tax incentive for a potential Midway Road area employee.

The plan is to give KaTom Restaurant Supply Inc. a four-year payment in lieu of tax, or PILOT, to set up shop in the area. Obviously, the folks out in East Knox County don't like this.

There's some thought that the proposal is just another way to set up a business park, piece by piece, and that this would be the first step. Personally, I can think of worse things to go there than a restaurant supply business, but that's easy to say because it's not in my backyard. Heh.

Anyhoo, it looks like some commissioners will push for the PILOT, but not limit it to just the Midway area. They feel that if KaTom is serious about relocating from Russellville to Knox County then it will look at other spots, too, if given the PILOT.

I don't know. I think the interest is more about that Midway property than it is about Knox County. It's close enough to recruit, but also a short commute for the current employees who don't live in the county.

In the meantime, this is just a small battle. If approved, the county commission still has to rezone the property. That won't have the political ease of a PILOT.

Audit email war Day II: Jarret returns

(Note from Mike: No idea why the font is so small and funky. Blogger sucks sometimes.)

Frank Cagle has a good read about county law director stuff right smack here. And speaking of law director stuff: You remember the email correspondence the other day between the builder, the auditor and the rogue? Click right smack here for the original blog entry and right smack here for all sorts of electronic goodness and read further.

If you don't want to click, then the short of it is that local developer Sandy Loy wanted the county's internal auditor, Richard Walls, to turn over some information (I think it was his notes) that he put together when he was investigating the PBA's handling of the Hardin Valley Academy project.

Walls refused, citing some state law stuff. Brian Hornback then sent Law Director Joe Jarret a note, asking whether Walls could turn down Loy. Jarret pretty much said that the information Loy wanted was public record.

Loy, then asked for it again. Now, however, Joe says that's not the case.

In an email to Sandy this morning, Joe said:

I misread Mr. Hornback's email. While the completed audit is a public record, the TN code does render confidential, audit working papers. I believe the purpose behind the legislation was to project (I think he means “protect”) innocent parties should the auditor's initial mental impression prove incorrect.

Now, before you get all crazy and say: “Jarret flipped flopped again,” Joe sent me a follow up email that reads:

This wasn't a "he changed his mind again" issue, I was cooling my heels at the hospital (where he is with his mother right now) and misread the email.

Now, this isn't a blog entry if I don't have a Sandy Loy follow-up to Jarret's initial email. Take it away, Sandy:

Joe,

Thanks for your reply. I am constantly amazed at how complicated keeping the rules straight is in local government.

Private business people such as myself just don't understand how the same tasks we perform every day, place in the hands of government becomes so complicated and difficult.

Given the obvious, that there are enough laws and rules now passed to allow even the most inefficient and duplicitous of management schemes to be declared OK because it is “LEGAL” … I am going to get back to the work which I do understand.

At the audit committee meeting last week there were 28 people in the room at one time, of which 26 were being paid to be there by my taxes. I have to get back to work; so I can pay the 15 different types of taxes currently “LEGAL” to support those 26 people who obviously think I have no right to know they spend the money they collect 15 different ways from me and every other business in Knox County.

Just a “sidebar” … if I “accidentally” short one of those tax payments by even $6 do you think they will just forget about it as “insignificant”?

What an indictment of our county government.

Sandy Loy

On a side note, I was at the meeting and so, too, was Hornback. (He blogged about it right smack here and right smack here.)

OK, finally, Joe responds back to Sandy:

Sir, it is certainly understandable. The TN Legislature of late seems to be expanding rather than contracting the list of documents deemed confidential. This is one of the reasons why my attorneys must be constant students of the despite our respective experience levels.

Now, there is an inside baseball jab there right out of Screams from da Porch.

Pension costs to jump, Lobetti retires

Never understood why most of the local media ignores the pension board meetings. Probably don't understand it. Or maybe they can't get a pretty picture to go with it. Or something. This is good stuff. Seriously.

The pension board meets Monday morning. There's a couple items of interest. The board will talk about the county's expected levels of contributions this year for the three pension plans (two of which are closed).

Back in late January, I wrote a story about the expected increases. Click right smack here for that bad boy.

Here are some more solid figures:

• In the current year, the county contributed $4.1 million to cover the Uniformed Officer's Pension Plan, or UOPP. This doesn't count costs toward paying off bonds. In the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1,, it's expected to be $4.6 million.
• The county this year contributed $1.5 million to a closed defined benefit plan for general employees (it closed in the early 1990s when they went on the asset accumulation plan, which is like a 401(k)). For this upcoming year, the board is asking the county to ante up almost $2.4 million.
• The county this year also chipped in a little more than $1 million for the “Old School” plan (this doesn't count bond payments, too). The board is asking for almost $1.2 million for the upcoming year.

Altogether, we're talking about an increase of $1.6 million.

In the meantime, a couple of folks in the Sheriff's Office are retiring effective April 1 (although I think they've already left).

First up is Dorothy Pinkston, the wife of former hellraisin' county Commissioner Paul Pinkston, the sharpest dresser on the commission and at one point an arch enemy of a certain former mayor. Dorothy worked for the county for more than 22 years. And no, she is not on the Sheriff's Office pension plan.

Next is Mose Lobetti, local political super spy, card player (or so the rumors go) and bailiff (when he's not a super spy). He is on the pension plan and worked for the county for more than 30 years. Actually, more like 3,000 years. Heh.

The board will talk about some other stuff, too, including its annual luncheon for county retirees and the charter review committee.