Every seat was filled at the Chester County Budget Committee meeting Monday night at the Chester County Board of Education conference room. They listened and several voiced their opinions about the proposed $.08 property tax increase.
The property tax increase comes on top of a Current Value Update (CVU) by the State Board of Equalization that increased the value of residential properties by 48%.
For example, if a local homeowner’s property value was $200,000 last year the new appraisal will be $296,000.
The property tax on this property was $1,093 last year. With the new appraisal and the tax increase this same property owner would pay $1,232 this year.
The new state certified tax rate has been set at $1.5853. This is down from $2.1869 in 2024. The certified rate is calculated, that with the new appraisal figures, the new rate would bring in the same revenue that the higher tax rate brought in last year. The new tax rate, including the increase would amount to $1.6653 per $100 of assessed value.
Following formalities of approving the minutes, the committee approved the lease of county land to erect a cell phone tower for Verizon. County Mayor Barry Hutcherson said the county would receive an initial payment of $35,000 when the tower was installed and $400 per month in leasing fees. The county would receive an additional $150 per month for each carrier that was added to the tower.
The committee settled in to defend the proposed budget they have been working on for the past several months.
Committee chairperson Ann Moore called on Finance Supervisor Heather Yelverton to go over key items that were affecting the budget for the upcoming year.
Yelverton stated that the budget included a 4% pay increase for all county employees. There were no pay increases in the 2024-2025 budget. All county officials will receive a 3% raise mandated by the state. The total cost of all pay increases adds approximately $216,000 to the budget.
She went on to explain the budget cuts that were made to keep the property tax increase as low as possible.
New revenue includes a change in the county’s wheel tax fee revenue by adding the fee to all motor vehicles except auto dealers and farm tractors. This change will bring in an additional $80,000. This amount will be split between the general fund and the ambulance service. New property growth is expected to add another $140,000 in revenue.
County resident Amy Taylor was most vocal of those who spoke concerning the budget. She said that she was concerned about the county’s ability to generate more revenue.
“My concern is that we have no money coming in,” Taylor said. “We have so much being pumped out.”
Taylor continued, “Highway 100 is wide open for new businesses. Could we get liquor by the drink or something. I understand (employee pay) raises. I work at a job, and I haven’t gotten a raise in five years. Ya’ll are raising my cost of living.”
Chamber of Commerce Director Blake Hopper explained that with retail recruitment when a new business is inquiring about an area it’s all data driven. “The first thing they (new retail businesses) look at is demographics and population,” Hopper said.
Addressing Taylor’s inquiry concerning liquor by the drink, Hopper said, “I’m probably the only chamber director in the world that’s against liquor by the drink. It doesn’t matter if I’m for it or not. I work for a board of directors that includes both the city and county mayors.”
“When you deal with retail recruitment you don’t deal whether you have liquor by the drink or not. You deal with population caps.” Hopper said.
Currently the city’s population is listed at 6,500 people. “That is not attractive to hardly anything,” Hopper continued.
He went onto explain that when Walmart comes to an area, for example, other businesses like Cato’s, GameStop and Ross’ join them.
The only “big box store” in Chester County is Tractor Supply. Hopper said they are now serving approximately 26,000 people to their site off highway 45. The total Chester County population is 17,000. They are drawing customers from McNairy County and south of Madison County.
He said that Chester County is not able to draw larger stores at this time.
Henderson Mayor Terry Bell said that a Casey’s Convenience Store will be coming to the city soon. The location for the new store will be on Eric Bell Drive beside the new Hampton Inn Hotel. Construction will begin once the site preparation is complete. The chain is the third largest convenience store chain in the United States.
Bell said he hoped the new hotel will be finished by the end of the year. This will bring in additional revenue for the city and the county through hotel/motel taxes.
Sherriff Mark Griffin said that his employees had not received a pay increase since 2023. “We must have a wage increase to stay competitive when recruiting deputies.
He explained that when he hired a new deputy that the county had to foot the bill for training at the academy. If they find a job paying more money, they take that training and move on. He said that he had an opening for a new deputy but hasn’t been able to fill the position.
Following several more comments chairwoman Moore closed the public comments part of the meeting and returned to approving the budget.
Committee member, Kevin Faulkner made the motion to approve the budget and send it to the commissioners for their approval. This motion was approved unanimously. The committee also approved the school budget, solid waste budget, library budget, drug fund budget, debt service budget and the highway department budget.
The Chester County Budget Committee met Monday night and approved the 2025-2026 operating budgets that will be sent to the commissioners for their approval. The full commission will meet at 7 p.m. in the courtroom of the Criminal Justice Center located at 333 Eric Bell Drive. A public hearing will be held prior to the meeting at 6 p.m.
