Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale announced his proposed FY07-08 budget on Wednesday. Some highlights from the Mayor's budget speech (PDF format):

• Without question, this has been the most difficult budget I have experienced in my 13 years as either a County Commissioner or Mayor. [..] I am asking our County Commission to approve a $57 million bond issue to cover the initial cost of the Sheriff’s Pension plan. This is the best way to cover an expense of this magnitude. This needs to be addressed by July 1 to ensure it is fiscally sound for Sheriff Department employees.

• County employees work hard to meet the needs of our citizens. This budget includes a 2% raise for employees and a one-time $500 bonus for all full-time workers.

• Well, now the question comes…what about taxes? I am pleased to announce that we can accomplish each of these initiatives with no tax increase whatsoever!

• I want to personally thank Sherry Witt, Billy Tindell, and John Whitehead. These countywide officeholders agreed with my recommendation to freeze or reduce the size of their staff. I’m working with them and others to increase the fees turned over to Knox County government. Over the past 5 years, we have reduced the size of government by 159 employees. We will do more this year, without any reduction in services to our citizens.

• Our Chamber Partnership’s JobsNow! Program, combined with the efforts of the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation, is producing, what I like to call, economic results. We have created over 22,000 new regional jobs. By creating better jobs, we have seen family incomes rise by nearly $4,000 per family. We have had $2.5 billion in capital investment, and it is great to continue to have one of the lowest unemployment rates that you will find anywhere in America.

• I am pleased to report that our children’s scores on the American College Test or ACT are now higher than the state average and the national average.

• Additionally, we have placed almost $6.5 million in the budget for the Great Schools Partnership. This will allow for additional programs for our birth to kindergarten initiative and Pre-Kindergarten classes. The budget allows for a new magnet program at Beaumont Elementary and an expansion of the advisor-advisee program. It allows for the expansion of the TAP program to another elementary school.

• Going forward, we are going to make certain that the quality of a child’s education is never determined by their zip code. (Ed. Note: They mayor recognized three teachers of the year. They are from A.L. Lotts Elementary, Holston Middle, and Farragut High.)

A summary of the Mayor's budget proposal is here (PDF format).

Among the highlights:

• Total budget is $613,997,237, a 5.6% increase over FY06-07.

• General Administration budget is increased 28.7%

• Public Safety budget (including Sheriff's Dept.) is increased 18.5%

• Public Library budget is increased 5.9%

• General Purpose School budget is increased 3.6%

• Public Health and Welfare budget is reduced (5.4%)

• Administration of Justice budget is reduced (10.1%)

• Other General Government budget is reduced (26.7%)

The Mayor also announced a hiring freeze. The requested headcount for FY08 was 8351 full time and 232 part time employees. This was a decrease of two full time employees and an increase of 32 part time employees compared to FY07. The Mayor's proposed headcount is 8309 full time employees and 213 part time employees, a decrease of 44 full time employees and an increase of 13 part time employees compared to FY07.

Some other notes from the budget…

• While increasing school funding by $12 million, or 3.6%, the Mayor proposes to increase Great Schools Foundation funding by 60% to $6.3 million while reducing the School Board's request from $350.6 million to $344.2 million, which is about $6.4 million. According to the Great Schools Foundation's most recent annual report, they spent the bulk of their funding (which came from TN Department of Education, United Way , and Great Schools) on targeted Pre-K and Kindergarten "intervention" programs to assist 900 children in 650 families and operate 13 pre-K classes. Some have criticized the program as a "shadow" school board, whose funding should be included in the School Board's budget and its operations managed as part of the Knox County School System.

• One of the curiosities in the Mayor's proposed budget is an 850% decrease in "Miscellaneous", a cut of $6.1 million. The requested budget was $1.6 million (over FY07's $726K), but the Mayor proposed $5.4 million decrease. Perhaps someone knows what this is all about?

• There is a 200% increase in Sheriff's Administration budget, of $5.5 million as compared to $2.7 million for FY07. There is a sharp increase in the proposed Sheriff's Administration headcount from 15 full time employees to 157 full time and 3 part time employees. Perhaps some employees are being reclassified?