Sullivan officials continue to discuss increased school budget proposal (2024)

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — More than 100 people packed the Sullivan County Commission’s courthouse meeting room on Wednesday while the Budget Committee and school system representatives hashed out the school board’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

The school board on Tuesday voted to resend its budget, which includes 15% raises for all employees, to the commission for consideration. The Budget Committee previously rejected the budget during a procedural vote.

The meeting, originally scheduled to take place in a conference room at the former Blountville school campus, was moved to the courthouse to accommodate an expected large turnout of supporters for the school budget.

Many Sullivan County teachers and support staff attended the meeting, many standing along the back wall or sitting on the floor.

“I think our teachers and staff is over exceeding,” Carter said.

As Director of Schools Chuck Carter praised teachers and staff and said they deserved raises, the audience cheered and applauded his comments.

During the meeting, County Mayor Richard Venable thanked the crowd for attending the meeting but asked them to decrease the amount of applause and cheering.

Committee Chairman David Akard reiterated that the commission does not control pay raises, it only approves the budget and the school system decides whether to provide raises for employees.

Carter, Finance Director Ingrid Deloach and Board Chairman Matthew Price answered several questions from the commissioners.

Commissioner Mark Ireson and Akard said they wanted to have a better understanding of state funding and questioned the accounting of about $6.1 million of the funding.

Near the end of the meeting, Ireson told the school board that it was “mean” for telling employees they could receive 15% raises.

“You were mean to the employees,” Ireson said. “You were mean to the people in the audience.”

Ireson, a former school board member, said the ask would result in a large tax increase for Sullivan County property owners. The request, an additional $6.2 million, could only be funded by a 37-cent increase in the tax rate, he said. Ireson said as chairman of the commission’s Education Committee, he had never been made aware of the request.

“We don’t have the money,” Ireson said.

One audience member responded, “You voted on it in January.

“I’m not asking for even. Let’s be comparable,” Price said. “You voted to support this raise.”

In January, the school board voted to include a 15% pay raise for all staff members and teachers in the 2024-2025 budget. The board approved the motion, which was made by School Board Member Randall Jones with a 7-0 vote.

Ireson was a voting school board member at the time. He later resigned from the school board but continues to serve on the commission.

Ireson said he voted in favor of the motion in January and said he believed there was money available at the school system to fund the 15% raises. He said he never planned to approve a tax increase for the raises.

There was much discussion about the possibility of a tax increase in Sullivan County. Akard spoke briefly about the county’s residents that live under federal poverty guidelines or working but qualify for assistance.

“We don’t want to make it 55% with a tax increase,” Akard said.

Akard’s comment drew some ire from the audience. One man said, “We vote for you.”

Commissioner Dwight King spoke about the commission’s responsibilities to all county employees, including those at the Sheriff’s Office, Highway Department and Emergency Management Agency.

“We’re juggling all of this,” King said. “It’s a balancing act. Everyone needs to work together.”

Carter agreed with King’s comments and said commissioners had a hard job. He added that about 80% of the school budget is for pay and personnel costs.

King also asked whether the school system was “getting into the bus business.”

The school board has discussed the possibility of having its own buses and drivers, rather than contracting out to bus companies. Carter said the system has been discussing the possibility with the companies.

During the meeting, commissioners learned the school system has not yet calculated the fund balance for the next fiscal year. Carter said his staff and the county finance director would be working on the fund balance next week, and should have it prior to the next Budget Committee meeting.

Commissioner Joyce Crosswhite asked whether raises could come from the fund balance. Carter said “reoccurring expenses,” like raises, should not come from the fund balance. The school system has used the fund balance in the past to pay for capital improvement projects, such as a recent project to improve lighting at Sullivan East High School’s athletic fields.

One of the goals of providing raises is to meet the state’s required minimum salary for first-year teachers in 2026. The state will require teachers to be paid $50,000. If the commission approves the system’s budget, Sullivan County teachers could be paid at that level earlier than required, according to Carter.

Several commissioners noted that the county cannot compete with or equal the pay of the teachers in Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport, because the cities have two funding sources: county and city.

But Carter said the county cannot give up.

Commissioner Sam Jones noted that Bristol, Kingsport and Johnson City have higher pay. Washington County, Tennessee, is just $4 above Sullivan County, and others pay lower.

Carter said the system has lost employees to the surrounding systems, adding that no one has gone to systems that pay less.

With a pay increase, several commissioners asked questions about the highest paid positions in the school system. Carter said the number of positions that pay more than $100,000 would increase from seven to 34. In addition, the highest paid teaching position would pay $74,935, which would include the pay raise.

Deloach said the position would include someone with a doctorate degree and 30 years of experience, however, no one currently meets those requirements.

The Budget Committee will return to discussions with the school board and its budget on June 12.