Mayor Luttrell suggests financial summit
Commissioners wary of positive results
A financial summit would better align the objectives of the Shelby County mayor’s administration and the County Commission as well as dispel the belief of some commissioners that they are being deliberately misled about the county’s finances, Mayor Mark Luttrell said Aug. 25.
But some say, while a summit may help, they’re still wary of the mayor’s numbers.
Luttrell made the summit pitch to commissioners during their Aug. 24 meeting, shortly before the commission awarded a $175,000 grant to nonprofit Seedco for workforce development and job training, something Luttrell said the county already funds.
The summit, he said, would let commissioners learn more about the budgeting process and allow them to discuss where they want the county to be when their terms end in three years.
Some issues could be addressed, he said, by moving the date the budget is presented so commissioners could see a budget with more final numbers.
However, two very vocal commissioners say while they’d support a summit, understanding the process isn’t the problem.
“The numbers are either correct or they’re not correct. I don’t see where feelings play into it. It’s the legislative body’s job to spend the money and to watch how the money is being spent. That’s what we’re doing,” said Heidi Shafer, commission budget and finance committee chairwoman.
Luttrell’s administration this year presented the commission with a budget that included $6 million in unallocated funds. Also, county trustee David Lenoir reported that property tax collections exceeded projections by $22 million. But the administration was never clear on how much the surplus was, and was also fighting a one-cent property tax cut, Shafer said.
Commissioner Terry Roland says he’d back a summit, but doesn’t want Luttrell to “steer the ship.”
For all of his five years, the administration has “run roughshod” over the commission, with the expectation that they will approve whatever is proposed, Roland said.