McNairy Co. Budget Approved, School Budget Slashed for 2014-15
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MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn.- More than half a million dollars is slashed from the McNairy County school budget as the county considers charging some students tuition. County leaders passed a new $5.7 million fiscal year budget just five hours before the 2014-15 year begins. In what some commissioners called a “bare bones budget,” students, parents and teachers will be seeing less money spent in the next year. Several teachers retired in 2014 and no new hires are planned. The county also may start enforcing a policy to charge a $250 tuition for out-of-county students, whose parents are not teachers, with a maximum of $600 per family. “The board has not specifically passed that policy per se, however the budget that the school board did approve—that the county commission did approve does include revenue without exempting anybody,” John Prince said, McNairy County Director of Schools. Property taxes remain the same at $2.09. Still, county leaders are hoping for more revenue through new industry and jobs, something he said is very much up to the commission. “Any kind of decision as far as a capital investment by the county for industrial development will be…ultimately approved by this board, ” McNairy County Mayor Ronnie Brooks said. In April, the $20 dollar wheel tax residents paid expired. There was some talk among commissioners about a possible $50 wheel tax for school revenues. Mayor Brooks said this has not been approved with this operating budget. Other cuts for the district include no new buses as well as a cut to the maintenance allotment.
