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Finance Committee discusses compensation study, approves tax levy abatement

It was business as usual for the Knox County Finance Committee at their meeting Wednesday night.

Knox County Treasurer Robin Davis informed the Finance Committee that due to the lack of participation from county employees, PayPoint HR did not have enough data to complete the study.

Thus, the county had PayPoint HR reopen the window for employees to complete the survey and then recompile the information.

Davis told the committee that PayPoint HR will have some information available by early February for evaluation. “A tentative evaluation towards the end of the month or beginning of February to see who they’re using for comparables. Because we’re going to be unique in a lot of cases than that we’re the only ones that may have a landfill or nursing home.”

County board chair Pam Davidson said that the lack of participation is hurting the county’s progress in getting a more complete compensation study, “and still today there’s some departments, some department heads, that have not turned in all the information this is needed. How can we get a complete study if they do not turn in the information?”

The indication from committee members is that the compensation study will be critical for the upcoming budget process.

Committee members also approved to abate the tax levy for General Obligation Alternate Revenue Bonds for the Tax Year 2018.

Treasurer Davis said that the county was paying off the principal of the Build America Bonds while only paying interest on the Recovery Zone Bonds so to keep the tax burden low for taxpayers.

“How these bonds were originally set up was: we’re using public safety tax revenue to pay these and that’s how we told the taxpayers we would do it. We waited until the jail bonds were paid off before we can start paying on these because we wouldn’t have had enough revenue to do so.”

She says the plan is to pay off the Build America Bonds, they’ll start paying down the Recovery Zone bonds and gave a timetable of 10 years. “The [Build America Bonds] will be paid off in 2023 and the [Recovery Zone Bonds] will be paid off in 2029,” Davis said to the Finance Committee.

Davis justified the staggered payments by informing the committee that because a large chunk of the interest paid is being rebated back to the county, it’s in the county’s best interest to not refinance the repayment of the bonds.

The Treasurer also went over the December financial’s for the county, the first month of the new budget year, which appeared to be running positive.

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