Montgomery County, TN – Hello Montgomery County!
On July 1st, we begin our new fiscal year in County Government. It’s important to note that our 2023-2024 budget passed at June’s Formal County Commission meeting with no property tax increase. This was done while funding all critical public safety projects and with significant support for capital projects on our school buildings.
Passing the Montgomery County budget is a lengthy process that takes planning from department heads, elected officials, and me – all advocating for the projects, equipment, and people necessary to meet the needs of our growing community.
The budget committee members, represented by members of the full County Commission body, listened and questioned for weeks, and requested adjustments. This resulted in the presentation of a fiscally responsible budget to the full commission on June 12th.
The County’s approved budget reflects our commitment and investment in the future. It provides essential resources to improve the quality of life for our residents. It enhances our services, allows us to work on some much-needed projects, and provides a cost-of-living increase to retain employees.
Here are some key highlights of our 2023-24 budget:
- Important Asks: We fulfilled critical requests in Public Safety for Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Emergency Management Agency (EMA), and the Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), providing them with the equipment and training resources needed to respond sufficiently to emergencies and take care of Montgomery County residents. Our Parks and Recreation Department also received funds to work on additional quality-of-life improvements in our unincorporated areas like Fredonia and Woodlawn.
- Capital Projects: Our largest projects for this fiscal year are the construction of the public library in north Clarksville, the new and desperately needed Animal Care and Control Facility, a new Highway Department Facility, road projects in the industrial park, Sango, Guthrie, and Palmyra, investments in replacement roofs for schools across the County, and improvements at the Public Safety Training Complex that will be used by emergency services personnel and the Sheriff’s Office.
- New Employees: This year’s budget allows us to hire new employees to keep up with growth by adequately staffing our departments to best serve our community. Every high school, for example, is now budgeted for two School Resource Officers (SROs), and every middle and elementary school has one SRO. The only exception is Middle College because they have APSU Campus Police.
- Cost of Living Increase for Employees: All County employees will receive a 3% cost-of-living increase on July 1st, 2023. A 2% step increase for qualifying employees will also be applied to employee anniversary dates. We will continue to promote incremental increases for employees to keep us competitive in the job market and prevent us from falling behind. Taking care of our current employees will always be a priority.
- New Human Capital Management (HCM) Program: We are investing in new HR software (HCM) to improve our training processes, reduce payroll processing time, and streamline hiring steps, making it easier to identify qualified candidates and shortening the amount of time between recruitment and hiring.
The passage of this year’s budget would not have been possible without the dedication, hard work, and commitment each employee brings to Montgomery County Government. Other than the department heads, elected officials, budget committee, and County Commission, I would especially like to thank our accounts and budget team for the many hours they worked during our three-month budget season. We will keep the community informed on budget initiatives and projects throughout the fiscal year through local media and our County’s social media outlets.
We are blessed with an outstanding team in Montgomery County Government, full of people who care about this community. If you have questions about the budget or any County initiatives, reach out any time. It is a pleasure and honor to serve as your Montgomery County Mayor.
