Sixth District Commissioner Arlene Cooke

Committee will consider WMC resolutions today
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Four-term county commissioner Arlene Cooke can’t remember a public hearing that attracted more than one or two people. “I’m assuming there will be quite a few attending this one,” she said of Tuesday’s public hearing on the county’s proposed 2011-2012 fiscal budget – and a likely property tax increase.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Williamson County Administration Complex auditorium, 1320 W. Main Street, in Franklin

Cooke is one of Brentwood’s representatives on the county’s governing board, and more importantly, a member of this year’s Budget Committee, which is hosting the public hearing. The sixth district commissioner said she expects other members of the commission, as well as key members of the Williamson County Schools administration to be present to hear comments made for or against the committee’s expected recommendation to raise the county’s property tax rate of $2.09 to $2.31 per $100 of assessed value.

The county’s total 2011-2012 proposed budget is just over $386 million.

Fifth district commissioner Lewis Green Jr. of Brentwood chairs the five-member budget committee and will lead Tuesday’s hearing. He doesn’t expect that there will be time limits for speakers but added that could change. “We’ll just see how many people show up,” he said. He added that if a group of like-mind constituents attend, they may want to consider having one spokesperson.

Green said he expects several different groups of people to attend tomorrow’s hearing, including those who may want to share their views on the possibility of selling Williamson Medical Center.

“I’ve gotten more emails on the hospital, pro and con, then I’ve gotten on the tax increase,” said Green, who is on the record as opposing the sale of the county-owned, non-profit hospital.

The Budget Committee will discuss two resolutions concerning the hospital at its regular meeting at 4:30 p.m. today.

Cooke and Green both point to the county school system as the biggest reason the county’s debt service has grown.

“I’ve gotten more emails on the hospital, pro and con, then I’ve gotten on the tax increase.” Lewis Green Jr. WCC Budget Commmittee chairman

“Of the debt we are carrying, 60 percent is schools, and they’re still coming,” Green said. “We’re looking at another high school, another elementary school in the years ahead. That’s what’s driving up the debt.”

According to the Williamson County Schools website, over the past five years, the school district has grown by an average of 1150 students each year.

Neither Green nor Cooke said school spending was a bad thing. Both acknowledged that the county’s highly regarded school system is one of its top selling points.

“If we were in Metro, we’d just have overcrowded classrooms and tons of portables,” said Cooke. Instead, she said Williamson County has always tried to be responsive to its school system and the expectations of its citizens.

 “I don’t like the idea of raising taxes but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and raise taxes,” she said, though she noted that only about a third of the Williamson County population has school-age children.

There are no easy answers, both commissioners agreed.

“The next four years, it’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to say no on certain projects,” Green said. One that’s close to his heart is the old Nolensville School. “We were going to convert that into a rec center,” he said. Instead, it sits awaiting a new use. The new Nolensville Elementary School opened in 2008.

“In order to get over this hump, it’s going to be rough on us,” Green continued. “That’s why we’re going to have to raise the property tax.”

“Getting out of debt” is four-term commissioner Cooke’s highest priority for the county, but she said she does not support a debt ceiling. “We have that right already; press the NO button,” she said.

She also hopes the county can soon give raises to county employees who have gone without them in recent years.

As for Tuesday’s hearing, she encourages people to attend. “It’s part of my job to listen to what the people of the county want and feel,” she said. In her 16 years on the commission, she said she can only remember one proposed county property tax hike, but money was shuffled between various budget categories to avoid it.

The full County Commission will make its final decision on the proposed 2011-2012 budget and set the tax rate at its regular meeting at 9 a.m. July 11, also at the administrative complex.