New city budget includes higher water and sewer rates and salary increases but no new fire engine or additional career firefighters

May 6, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

Property tax rates for City of Smithville landowners will not be going up this year, but water and sewer rates will be raised by 4% in order to keep utility revenues ahead of expenses, per state requirement.

During the regular monthly meeting Monday night, the Mayor and Aldermen adopted on first reading a budget ordinance for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Second and final reading action will be at the June 2 regular monthly meeting.

The city property tax rate is 0.7523 cents per $100 of assessed value and it is expected to generate $1,230,000 in local revenue. Actual city property tax collections for the year ending 2023-24 were $1,217,281.

The new rates for city water customers will be $8.59 per thousand gallons of usage (up from the current rate of $8.26 per thousand). Rates for customers outside the city limits will be $12.88 per thousand (up from the current rate of $12.38 per thousand. City sewer customers will pay $8.00 per thousand (up from the current rate of $7.69 per thousand).

Under state law, if a utility operates at a loss for more than two years and doesn’t address it, the state has the authority to force rate increases to make it solvent. The city is currently not running at a loss in the water and sewer fund. According to the budget the city finished the 2023-24-year June 30 on the plus side by $530,625 but is projected to be only $2,914 to the good by the end of the 2025-26 year on June 30.

The new budget includes a 3% pay raise for hourly city and salaried employees with a few exceptions (noted below). Those with up to four years of service would get a step raise due them on their employment anniversary date along with the 3% increase. The total regular base pay for all city employees combined in 2025-26 will be $3,081,525, up by $169,567 from $2,911,958 in 2024-25.

According to the budget, the salaries of the following city department heads and employees will be as follows (regular pay not including benefits) in 2025-26:

City Administrator: $90,000, up from $85,840 in 2024-25

Public Works Director: $74,000 up from $70,008

Certified Municipal Finance Officer (CMFO): $74,000, up from $66,950

Golf Manager: $42,000 up from $38,192

Lead Operator in Water & Sewer Maintenance (same employee with new title): $26.32 per hour with CDL, up from $23.64 per hour with CDL.

Parks employee: (same employee going from part time to full time): $19.07 per hour, up from $17.52 per hour.

Also included in the proposed new budget is $4,000 to increase the longevity pay of volunteer firefighters as follows: 5 to 10 years of service- $250; 10 to 15 years of service-$500, and over 15 years of service-$750. Total budgeted payment to volunteer firefighters-$70,000.

Not included in the budget is the proposed purchase of a $1.2 million Pierce fire engine as requested by the fire chief nor the three additional full-time (career) firefighter positions he wanted.

Projected general fund expenditures for 2025-26 are to exceed revenues by $250,970. A year ago, the budget showed that actual city spending outpaced revenues by $795,688 for the year ended June 30, 2024.

In the water and sewer fund, the city is projected to finish next year (2025-26) in the plus column by only $2,914. A year ago, actual water and sewer revenues exceeded expenditures by $530,625 as of June 30, 2024.

The 2025-26 budget includes the following in new spending:

CAPITAL OUTLAY:

*Public Works: mower trailer-$5,000; steam cleaner-$5,000; backhoe thumb kit-$5,300 (funded 50% from the general fund or $2,650 and 50% from the water and sewer budget $2,650)

*Fire Protection: 2 tri band filters for radios-$7,000; 10 batteries for radios-$3,800; training site equipment-$15,000; loose fire equipment-$25,000; new hydrants-$50,000

*Street Department: Paving-$100,000

Police Department: 2025 Tahoe-$52,143, 2025 Tahoe equipment-$8,554; 2025 Durango-$45,060, 2025 Durango equipment-$10,925, and tasers-$58,592.

*Financial Administration: G-5 software upgrade- $27,600 (funded 50% from the general fund or $13,800 and 50% from the water and sewer fund $13,800); backhoe thumb kit-$5,300 (funded 50% from the general fund or $2,650 and 50% from the water and sewer budget $2,650)

WATER AND SEWER FUND FIXED ASSET ADDITIONS:

*Fixed Asset additions: wastewater treatment plant air piping project- $130,000; G-5 software upgrade-$27,600 (funded 50% from the general fund or $13,800 and 50% from the water and sewer fund $13,800).

May 5, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

The 2025 DeKalb County School District Teacher of the Year is Amanda Goodwin, special education teacher at Northside Elementary School.

Goodwin got a surprise visit to the school Monday for the “John Isabell Memorial Award” presentation by Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, Northside Elementary School Principal Angela Johnson, NES Assistant Principal Beth Pafford, Supervisors of Instruction Michelle Burklow and Randy Jennings, Special Education Supervisor Natasha Vaughn, and Federal Programs Supervisor Dr. Danielle Collins. As part of the honor, Goodwin also received a school bell award, a floral arrangement, and a certificate granting her a day off from school with pay.

“I am really excited, and I appreciate it. I don’t do this on my own. It takes the support of all the teachers here at Northside along with the administration, faculty staff, and students,” Goodwin told WJLE Monday when informed by the administration that she was named DeKalb District Teacher of the Year.

After spending two years as a special education assistant, Goodwin said she fostered a deeper passion for teaching and furthered her education to become a teacher, a position she has held for five years now.

“This is actually my seventh year here at Northside including two years as an assistant. I teach special education as an interventionist for second and third grade,” Goodwin explained. “I started out with a business degree. I had a bachelor’s in business and when my kids went to school I started subbing and really enjoyed it so I became an assistant at Northside in a special education classroom. That started a fire in me to want to be a teacher, so I went back and got a master’s in special education,” said Goodwin.

In addition to the visit with Goodwin, Director Cripps and school administrators paid a call on four other teachers at their schools Monday to present the school level “Teacher of the Year” awards including 4th grade math and science teacher, Cathleen Humphrey at DeKalb West School, 1st grade teacher Allyson Trapp at Smithville Elementary School; Kristen Lynch, special education teacher at DeKalb Middle School, and Dylan Kleparek (Coach K), science/chemistry teacher at DeKalb County High School.

This is the 18th annual Teacher of the Year observance.

“Our district’s Teacher of the Year program recognizes and honors outstanding teachers in DeKalb County. We applaud teachers who care about our children, who devote their professional lives to enriching the lives of DeKalb students, and who demonstrate exceptional gains in student achievement. We are not just exceptionally proud of our Teachers of the Year, but we are also grateful for all of our educators in DeKalb County,” said Director Cripps.

Teachers of the Year are selected competitively through five cycles: Building, System, Field Service Core Center Region, Grand Division and State; and from three categories (levels of teaching); Grades Pre-K-4, 5-8, 9-12.

Teachers selected at each cycle receive local recognition and awards underwritten by local sources. State recognition/awards include a banquet honoring the nine State Teacher of the Year finalists and certificates of appreciation from the governor. In addition, the State Finalists and the State Teacher of the Year receive cash awards.

The Tennessee Teacher of the Year Program is designed to promote effective teaching practices by recognizing and rewarding outstanding teachers while encouraging others to join the teaching profession.

May 5, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) today announced a precautionary fish consumption advisory for walleye 19 inches and larger on Center Hill Reservoir in DeKalb and Putnam counties.

TDEC advises that pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children avoid eating the fish and that all others limit consumption to one meal per month. Other recreational activities such as boating, kayaking, swimming, wading, and catch-and-release fishing carry no risk.

In 2021 and 2023, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), in cooperation with TDEC, collected walleye for tissue analysis on Center Hill Reservoir. Fish were analyzed for mercury by the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) through a contract with TDEC. An impoundment on the Caney Fork River, Center Hill Reservoir is north of Smithville and south of Interstate 40 in Middle Tennessee.

The advisory applies to walleye 19 inches and larger for the entirety of the reservoir based on data exceeding Tennessee’s trigger point for mercury. Mercury in walleye 19 inches and larger averaged 0.39 mg/kg, which is above the trigger point of 0.3 mg/kg. The advisory is consistent with TDEC’s responsibilities under the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act.

“Unlike ‘Do Not Consume’ advisories that warn the general population to avoid eating fish from a particular body of water altogether, precautionary fish consumption advisories are specifically directed to sensitive populations. They include children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and those who may eat fish frequently from the same body of water,” said Ronné Adkins, deputy commissioner for Environment at TDEC. “These advisories help the community make informed decisions about whether or not to consume the fish.”

TDEC will post warning signs at primary public access points and will work with the TWRA to communicate this information to the public.

For a complete listing of Tennessee’s current fishing advisories, plus additional information about the advisory issuance process, go online to TDEC’s Bacteriological and Fishing Advisories page.

About Fish Consumption Advisories

The Tennessee Water Quality Control Act identifies the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as having the authority and responsibility to issue advisories for either water contact hazards like pathogens or excessive health risks due to the accumulation of contaminants in fish or shellfish. Tennessee’s General Water Quality Criteria provide additional guidance regarding the conditions under which advisories may be warranted.

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