By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Fiscal court is planning some changes to the way the county charges businesses for license fees.
The county currently has a system where they charge a licensing fee on specific products or services.
For instance, if a business sells tobacco products, they have a licensing fee of $11.50 per year they must pay to do so. Paying that fee gets them a license that must be prominently displayed within their business.
And it isn’t just for tobacco products. The county currently requires a license be purchased, through the office of county clerk Mike Johnston, for the sale of tobacco, soft drinks, ice cream, and restaurant or deli foods, as well as a license for each pool table and other gaming tables. The licensing fees, which range from $6.50 (soft drinks) up to $15 (pool table), have not been adjusted for inflation or otherwise increased in 30 years, Johnston said, and doesn’t bring in a lot of money. It’s currently budgeted to bring in $1,500 in the next fiscal year.
While Johnston came to the court during their special session last Friday with a proposed increase in fees of $20 across the board – raising the $11.50 currently charged for a restaurant/deli license to $31.50 and the $6.50 for soft drinks and ice cream licenses to $26.50 – with the small amount the licenses currently bring in for the county, there was some discussion of dropping the fees completely.
Judge executive Mike Malone considered this option briefly, noting that with the recently passed occupational tax businesses are already contributing to the county’s bottom line.
What the judge executive ultimately suggested, however, was doing away with the piece-meal licensing approach for individual items, and instead passing an ordinance that would require all businesses to purchase a license, no matter what items they sold.
Following Malone’s suggestion, District One magistrate Chris Huddle made a motion to do away with the county’s current item based license fees, which the court approved. The court then approved a motion to begin the process of adopting a business license ordinance.
The court also moved to enter into the first reading of their Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget. The courts total budget for the fiscal year is currently $17,670,268.05, with $3,230,752.05 of that in the general fund budget, $5,567,727.44 in the road budget, $5,995,414.56 in the jail budget, $898,424.00 in the LGEA fund budget – which includes funds for the coroner, fire departments, disaster services, dispatch, solid waste, the soil conservation district, and other fees, $200,000.00 in CDBG funds – for which the county serves as a pass through, $18,8000.00 in the forestry fund, $100,200.00 in the insurance premium fund, $451,875.50 for enhanced 911, and $1,207,074.50 in ARPA funds.
In other action, the court moved to approve a seven percent salary increase for all departments, effective July 1, except for E911. That department already received an increase in salary during last month’s regular meeting. They also moved to approve a contract with LTI Consulting Services for road funding advice through the end of the year. The cost for that service is $750 a month for the retainer, with additional services billed as required.
Malone asked for the approval through the end of the year, after which the next administration could decide whether to continue. But, he said, if he had known about resources like LTI when he started as judge executive, he “would have jumped at the opportunity.”
The county also moved to approve the purchase of new voting machines, as mandated by federal law, at a cost of $281,561, with the cost financed through Harp Financing.
The court also discussed costs for repairs to the courthouse and demolition of the old jail building, approved the payment of standing orders, and approved claims from the treasurer.
Malone also gave an update on the doughboy statue, noting that repairs were complete, and only went $600 over the initial quote. That increased cost was related to damage sustained after the first quote, when the statue’s ankle supports gave way, causing it to fall over. Malone said he planned to go pick the statue up following the next regular session of fiscal court, when magistrates could approve the additional costs.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
