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Lauren Breeze District 18 Commissioner
Lauren Breeze represents Wilson County, Tennessee's County Commission District 18.
๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ![]()
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The Tennessee Constitution outlines the basic structure of County Government, including establishing the Officials that govern the county - a county executive, sheriff, trustee, register, county clerk, and assessor of property. It also requires the election of a legislative body of not more than 25 members. Each of these Elected Officials have specific duties, but they all report to the citizens of the County. ![]()
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If you created an Organizational Chart with just these offices, it would be a straight line. Elected officials do not have any authority over one another, which is why itโs so important that they (we) all work together to best serve the citizens that elected us. ![]()
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Here's an organization chart of the county and all the different county departments. The boxes around each official or department are color coded so you can easily tell if they are elected, appointed or hired.
๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ![]()
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WCS budget is put together by the Superintendent and then presented to the Board of Education (BOE). The BOE met several times in May where the proposed budget was presented for review and questions. They then met on May 18th and voted to approve the budget. Next step happens tomorrow (May 26th @ 6 PM), when the budget will be presented in a joint meeting of the Commissionโs education and budget committees for acceptance. ![]()
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The BOE is asked to pass a budget that can be funded by their revenues (state, federal and local dedicated education funds). This includes the growth in property taxes that I discussed last week (an additional $2,396,057 for FY27) as well as increases in sales tax and state funding. While all other departmentsโ budgets are status quo, the school budget does have additional revenue from the county, state and federal government already added every year. If anything additional is needed, it is submitted on a needs list and the Commission then tries to fund the needs with current revenue. ![]()
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Then on May 27th, the budget committee will meet and go through all the needs and determine what can be met with growth money. Anything over that growth amount would require additional revenue to fund, and that is when that conversation would take place. ![]()
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Please let me know if you have questions, and I will try to answer them. I have not seen the proposed WCS budget myself. Any questions you have about specific line items should be addressed to members of the BOE. The budget is approved by the BOE, and they have line item authority. The commission makes the funding decision on what is presented by the BOE - do we or don't we, as a county, have the revenue to cover the expenses requested. If not, do we ask the BOE to stay within what the county can afford, or do we look at how to increase revenue to the county. Hopefully, all this provides some clarification. ![]()
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๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง ๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ง. ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ, ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ญ๐ก @ ๐ ๐๐.
๐ช๐ถ๐น๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ๐ - ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ต ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐? ![]()
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(๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ @ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฌ)![]()
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Growth money is the additional funds brought in by new homes and businesses added to the property tax rolls from one year to another. When a new home is built or a new business opens, the amount of property taxes collected increases. Property taxes are recurring so that is what is used to fund the majority of county operations (recurring expenses). ![]()
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Anytime I see conversations about taxes, people always highlight that Wilson is the second wealthiest county when it comes to per capita income. While that is true, property taxes are based on the total assessment value of all the property in Wilson County. It has nothing to do with per capita income (if we had income tax, which thankfully we do not, per capita income would come into play). ![]()
The best way to compare counties is to look at the total assessment value and the value of one penny of property tax. You can see a list here: www.ctas.tennessee.edu/reference/tax-statistics ![]()
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Wilson is growing and adding rooftops so every year there is additional property taxes to cover new expenses. However, it is probably not as much as you think it is. The FY27 growth rate is 4.39%. This will bring in an additional $6.2 million to the county. ![]()
The growth money is split out based on the property tax rate, The Education budget is the largest, but itโs split between Wilson County Schools and Lebanon Special School District based on enrollment. WCS will get 38.6% of the total growth money giving them an additional $2,396,057 and LSSD will get 7.7% giving them an additional $480,024 for FY27. ![]()
โข General Fund Growth: $2,166,403![]()
โข Highway Dept: $282,376![]()
โข Solid Waste: $112,106![]()
โข General Debt: 626,167![]()
Resulting in a total of $6,202,859 of addition county property taxes for FY27 additional needs.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐
๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง![]()
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I have heard that some people are questioning the process that the county commission uses for budget amendments and resolutions to the County Commission. This topic dovetails perfectly with my ongoing series about the County Commission, so I thought it would be an opportune time to answer those questions as well as explain how the County Commission meetings/process works.![]()
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The County Commission is the Legislative body of the county. It operates on a committee system, very much like state legislatures do. In Wilson county, that means that the majority of Resolutions and budget amendments are discussed in full and questions are asked and answered by two committees before it gets to the full County Commission. First at the subject matter committee for the Resolution, for example anything that concerns Wilson County Emergency Management would start in the EMA committee. Then it goes to the Budget Committee.![]()
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Some committees meet monthly, but others meet as needed. The budget committee is typically on the first Thursday of the month.![]()
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You can see the meetings and their agendas on the calendar here: www.wilsoncountytn.gov/Calendar.aspx![]()
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If you didnโt get a chance to attend a meeting, you can watch them all on the Countyโs YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@WilsonCountyTelevision/videos![]()
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The County Commission is the third Monday of the month, unless there is a federal holiday, and then its moved to the third Tuesday.![]()
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The full agendas are available online to the public a week before the meeting: www.wilsoncountytn.gov/AgendaCenter![]()
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As a Commissioner, I print the 2-3 page agenda list at the beginning of the monthly packet and then I make my notes there and I follow along on the digital PDF during the meeting. The same could be done on a phone in the audience.![]()
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Every month we start with any Honorary Resolutions and then public comments. Next is the official adoption of the agenda and a vote on a Consent Agenda if there is one. The Consent Agenda is limited to budget amendments involving line item transfers of $5000 or less that donโt affect the fund balance as well as any proposed road names changes and speed limit changes.![]()
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If there is a rezoning that needs to be considered (the Commission only votes on developments if a rezoning is required) that comes next. Then the Mayor makes his remarks and we vote on any appointments that require Commission approval.![]()
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From there, we work through reports from the various county departments and approve minutes for any meetings that happened that month. Lastly, we work through the budget amendments. That usually goes very quickly because they have all been discussed at two prior committee meetings and questions are addressed there.![]()
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Let me know if you have any questions. I want to make sure everyone knows how to follow along with the business of the county and engage if an issue is important to you!