Brownsville aldermen vote to cut jobs, keep tax rate the same

BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. — Brownsville aldermen voted Monday to cut jobs to balance the budget, but city leaders said they will not have to raise taxes.

In a unanimous vote Monday, the Brownsville Board of Aldermen passed the first reading of the 2019 budget. “This proposed budget does not have any tax increase in it,” Brownsville Mayor Bill Rawls said.

Rawls said they cut 12 full-time positions, five part-time jobs, and one position went from full time to part time.

Alderman John Simmons said he thinks they have more cuts to make. “I think we just probably employed people that maybe shouldn’t have been employed,” he said.

Vice Mayor Leon King said they had to do it because the city came up short on money. “We looked and saw that we needed to make some cuts because the money wasn’t there like it should have been,” he said.

The budget could still change, but Rawls said he thinks the numbers are close to where they need to be. “Right now the proposed budget has about $50,000 of surplus in it, which is a very small number for a budget of this size,” he said.

Aldermen are expected to vote on the budget a second time on Sept. 11.

Simmons said they may also consider doing away with door-to-door garbage pickup and going to street curbside pickup instead in order to save money.