4 tax renewals to be on November ballot
Voters in Greene County will be asked in November to renew four taxes that generate more than $20 million to support county services and Greene Memorial Hospital.
County commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to put the four levies on the ballot.
Each levy renewal, if approved, would be in place for five years:
■ 1.5-mill levy for Greene County Children Services
■ 1.4-mill levy for Greene County Council on Aging
■ 3.5-mill levy for Greene County Board of Developmental Disabilities
■ 0.5-mill levy for Greene Memorial Hospital
County Administrator Brandon Huddleson said commissioners regularly review the financial reports from these entities to ensure the money “is spent in-line with the levy language.”
Commission President Tom Koogler said he is not opposing or endorsing any of the taxes.
“We have a responsibility to put it on the ballot so that the taxpayers can make that decision,” Koogler said.
Commissioner Alan Anderson said the commission’s role in putting the levies on the ballot is to “carefully” look over the requests, determine whether it will be a five- or 10-year request and “determine if they are valid
and used in the community.”
Voters last renewed the levy for council on aging in May 2014.
At that time, the levy generated 93 percent of the nonprofit organization’s annual revenue. The council on aging’s annual budget in 2014 was $4.5 million, according to earlier reporting by this news outlet.
The levies for children services, developmental disabilities and GMH were last renewed by voters in November 2013.
Current estimates were not immediately available, but according to the numbers from five years ago, the children services levy generated about $5.4 million a year while costing property owners about $46 a year for every $100,000 worth of property.
The developmental disabilities levy has been generating about $11.6 million a year while costing property owners about $96 a year for every $100,000 worth of property.
The levy that supports Greene Memorial Hospital costs homeowners approximately $14 a year for every $100,000 worth of property.
The levy generates approximately $1.7 million a year, according to GMH President Rick Dodds.
Dodds said the hospital levy supports “vital services” that the hospital provides county residents. Those services include health care for emergencies, stroke, cardiac and cancer patients as well as women’s services.
Dodds said the renewal is “significant and vital to continue to provide those services to the community.”
GMH is a 49-bed facility that employs approximately 400 employees, Dodds said.