Chester Co. Budget Committee reconvenes after denial of 4 cent tax increase

CHESTER COUNTY, Tenn. — One local county is still working on a way to settle their budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

The Chester County Budget Committee met last week to present a 4 cent property tax increase.

Monday evening, the board of commissioners denied the approval for this budget. However, budget committee members came prepared with another budget plan.

“3% property tax–we had decided that if the 4 cent didn’t pass that we would go with the 3 cent property tax,” said Ann Moore, chairman for the Chester County Budget Committee.

One concern for Monday night was for the 2% property tax deduction and for the teachers to be paid on time.

“They get an annual bonus and that’s gonna be held back, if we don’t get it approved soon,” said Moore.

The state did issue a certified tax rate of 1.583%, however, if the board votes yes to that, officials say it could do more damage than good.

“If we went to that, then there would be no tax increase but we would actually probably be in a deficit. So we need to go with at least 1.61,” said Moore.

The next budget meeting will be Monday, July 28 at 6 p.m. with commissioners present to help.

“[We] Can settle and decide on what we need to do, with the tax increase or whatever get this budget passed, so we can get it behind and get it through audit,” said Moore.

The budget committee members say they’re wanting to make sure they’re not dipping into the fund balance just in case of an emergency.

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