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Fiscal Facts-4538

Published May 13, 2010

In an effort to help the Williamson County community better understand the budget and the budget process, IN FOCUS has launched a new feature called Fiscal Facts.  The purpose of this section is to answer any questions you might have, or rumors you may have heard, regarding the 2010-2011 budget.  Simply EMAIL your questions to us and we will respond to them in upcoming issues of IN FOCUS.

Since our last issue of IN FOCUS, we received several questions regarding the budget:

I would appreciate an explanation as to why we are expected to pay an additional $500/employee health care increase.  My family pays $1368/month in health coverage for a family of three.  No one subsidizes my family.

Williamson County Government offers employees, as a benefit, medical, dental and life insurance products.  Currently, the county does not require a share in a premium for individual coverage of employees.  However, employees with family coverage pay a certain percent of the implied premium. Williamson County Government uses a self insured mechanism for its employee insurance program.  Williamson County Schools currently participates in this program.  To be able to cover the costs of the program, the county has requested that this increase be included in the budget.

The County Commission has the final vote on any tax increase.  The commission hasn't voted on a property tax increase for the school system in years due to the fortunate growth of the county.  The information that has been presented is assuming the County Commission will vote to increase the tax rate for the currently proposed budget.

  • What would be the impact to WCS if they choose not to vote on any tax increase or less than what is being requested? 

We currently need approximately $10.8 million to fund the budget as presented.  We may get additional BEP (basic education program funds - the state’s share of our budgeted revenue) by the end of the process or additional local money from the current $1.20 property tax penny (through increased assessments through June 30) that can reduce this amount that we need.  However, if the commission chose not to vote on a tax increase for our fund, the impact would be further reductions to our budget.  While we may be able to come up with inconsequential operational cuts to lines other than payroll lines, to actually reduce our budget further would mean reducing additional positions to make an impact on the bottom line.

  • The parent base already pays school fees, extracurricular fees, and supports fundraisers for smart boards, sports equipment, equipment for the band, etc.  How much more would be out of pocket and how many positions would be cut? 

The only out of pocket would be for the tax increase.  The board is not considering additional fees for this budget.  The number of positions that would need to be cut could be between 25-50 based on the positions that may be cut.

  • Who can the constituents contact to voice their support of the 2010-11 budget and when will the commission be voting?

The County Commission is the funding authority for our budget.  Also, you can attend any public meeting held by this body (County Commission) when it is reviewing our budget, either at a committee meeting, the Public Hearing (Tuesday, June 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the administrative complex) or the July County Commission meeting when they will act on the entire budget for the county (Monday July 12, 9:00 a.m. in the auditorium of the administrative complex).  A list of upcoming meetings can be found HERE.