Audit Committee - Regular Meeting

This time, I'll call the budget committee meeting to order and ask for everyone to please register their presence.

Mary, you have five present.

Thank you. Now I ask that the emergency announcement please be played. Now I'll ask you, is there any input on items on the agenda? Does anyone have any input on any of the items on on the agenda? Say none.

We'll move on. If no one has any objection, if if I can at this time, I do have an announcement I'd like to make. If if there's no objections, does anyone have any objection? Seeing none. First of all, I wanna tell you how excited I am tonight to to announce, to this budget committee and that, to to the people in this audience that Blount County government has been upgraded by by Fitch's ratings, which is the which what rates the effectiveness and the stability and the the governments and and puts them in a class on on whether doing a good job, doing the right thing, their finances, how they spend their tax dollars, all of that.

Well, we've been upgraded to a triple a, which is the highest you can be. This makes us one of only four counties out of 95 in the state of Tennessee to receive this rating. This is something that we've been working towards since I was first elected, and we this committee first. This budget committee first set down, fifteen years ago. As we're we're starting another fiscal year, this is great news for the Blount County government and our people.

This achievement is a testimony to the hard work and long term planning of this budget committee. Can't say thank you enough to you all. To our Blount County Commission, I can't say thank you enough to them and to our elected officials and our employees who also worked tirelessly to make this make this happen. The continued conservative efforts of our all of our departments with the discipline to maintain basic balanced budgets all while providing excellent services to our citizens and adding to our fund balance is absolutely what makes good government and what and that's what good government is all about. Our citizens deserve this.

And this Blount County government, we recognize that and honor that. As you as many of you already know, Fitch evaluates how government is performing and then rates the government using that data and other considered factors. The reasons noted upgrade some of them for A A A Are County's reduced debt, resulting in lower liabilities as well as healthy fund balances and the community's economic strength. We were able to achieve this top rating due to our commitment as a team to the conservative management of our taxpayer dollars. This rare triple a designation is a direct result of budgeting within our means and a persistent pay as you go philosophy, none of which would can happen without everyone participating to make this possible.

I'm very proud of this this this achievement, especially since when we fifteen years ago when we first came here, we had a double a minus, one of the lowest ratings you can have. We've come a long way in fifteen years. And with your help, the commission's help, we'll continue to use sound financial practices not just for today, but for the future of Blount County. I wanna thank each and every one of you again, and I wanna say thank you to our finance team. Brian, I've I've already let Randy know about this.

This was something Randy and I had we we talked about this for twelve, thirteen years trying to get to this level because this was kinda like the epitome of of of being the the government that you should be and that the people deserve is to get this triple a rating. And, something that we we're very, very eager to to to happen, and and it's very exciting. And with Brian's help and and all of our finance department, with the county commission, with you, and with our elected officials and our apartment heads, we now are a true triple a rated, government. And, I I hope this may be the only crowd that ever hears about it, but, I want you all to know I I I the taxpayers deserve that, and I'm glad that we're able to provide that for them. Nothing else being said, I'd like to say we'll go on to item d, which is approval of the minutes.

Do I you have the minutes in your in your packet. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Motion made by commissioner Anderson, seconded by miss Hannam. Any questions or discussion on the minutes? Seeing none, ask you to register your vote, please.

Mayor, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item e one, resolution number 25Dash07Dash001, budget increase, Blount County Sheriff's Office, 230,000. This is to appropriate one time general county funds for already supported items, including the k nines, the AEDs, the drones, and the battery backups for the jail. I have a motion to send this on by commissioner Bright, seconded by commissioner Anderson. Does anyone have any questions or discussion? Seeing none, I ask you to register your vote, please.

Mary, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item e two. Resolution number 25Dash07Dash002. Budget adjustment, Blount County Sheriff's Office, $72,453. The appropriate general county funds to recognize the total expense occurred with a real time crime position approved in this year's budget. This increase is currently offset by reimbursements from Merrillville City, Alcoa City, and the nine one one operations. Have a motion to send this on from commissioner Taylor, seconded by commissioner Anderson. Is there any questions or discussion on this? Seeing none, I ask you to register your vote, please.

Mary, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item e three, resolution number 25Dash07Dash003, budget increase for the Heritage Center. This is $25,000 to appropriate one time general county funds for already supported increase in contributions to the Heritage Center. Motion made by miss Hannum, seconded by commissioner Brock. Is there any questions or discussion on this? Seeing none, I ask you to register your vote, please.

Mary, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item f one, Blount County Sheriff's Office grant application, $1,575,000 to apply for the fiscal year twenty six school security officer grant for 21 SROs at $75,000 each. No matching funds are required. Have a motion to send this on from commissioner Anderson, seconded by miss Hannam. Is there any questions or discussion on this? Seeing none, I ask you to register your vote, please.

Mary, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item f two, Blount County Sheriff's Office grant application, $74,000, and this is to apply for the fiscal year twenty six litter grant. There's no matching funds required here also. Motion's made by commissioner Bright, seconded by commissioner Anderson. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, I ask you to register your vote, please.

Mary, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item f three, Blount County Sheriff's Office grant application for $20,000, and this is to apply for fiscal year twenty six mental health transport grant. There is no matching funds on on this that are required either. And I have a motion to send this on from commissioner Anderson, seconded by commissioner Brock. Is there any questions or discussion on this? Seeing none, I ask you to register your vote, please. I got it on yours. Go ahead.

Mary, you have five yeses.

Thank you. Item g, financial reports. These are information only. Also, there is nothing else on the agenda at this time. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? Move to adjourn.