By Bill Grubb

ROGERSVILLE — With one commissioner calling it “grandstanding,” a resolution asking county commissioners to cut their own pay and donate the savings came under fire at Monday’s Hawkins County Budget Committee meeting.
    The resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Danny Alvis, would cut the $100 compensation commissioners receive for regular monthly meetings and $50 for most committee meetings by 10 percent.  
    If approved, the resolution would donate, $1,000 of the savings to the Disabled Veterans of America Chapter 59 to help purchase a van to transport veterans between area clinics to Johnson City. The remainder of the savings would be distributed to area fire departments.
    The budget committee is recommending approval of a spending plan that would maintain the county’s property tax rate at $2.61 per $100 of assessed property value.  The budget includes no new positions, trims most contributions by 10 percent and includes budget cuts by most office holders, although no salary cuts were included.
    “We spent a lot of time working on this budget and we treated everyone the same,” Committee Chairman Claude Parrott said.  “I don’t see that this resolution will do anything but create confusion and problems later on.”
    Parrott said he could envision a chain reaction of budget amendments that would require the county mayor’s office to recalculate the $12 million which is projected to end the fiscal year with less than $300,000.
    Commissioner Virgil Mallett said the proposal was disruptive and  described it as “bad legislation.”
    “To me it is nothing more than grandstanding.  It is just someone being political,” Mallett said.  “It makes for a good front page newspaper story but that is all.”
    Mallett noted any commissioner can make a personal donation to any group.
    “If somebody wants to donate some money or even his entire paycheck to fire department or the veterans or any other group, he can,” Mallett noted.
    The committee took to the rare step of recommending commissioners reject the resolution, with Mallett, Parrott, Boyd Goodson, Kenneth Long, Charles Thacker and Bob Palmer voting to vote against the resolution.  Committee member Larry Frost was absent.
    In other business the committee voted to recommend the full legislative body approve a plan that will allow Trustee Patsy Courtney to begin accepting partial payments for property taxes.
    Courtney told committee members she believes the move will actually help her collect more money.
    “Right now if someone wants to come in an make a partial payment I can’t take their money,” the trustee said.  “If we allow someone to spread out the payments they can come in any time and pay a little something.  I think that will help people out, especially if they are on a fixed budget.”
    She noted if the full amount due is not paid by the end of February interest and penalties will be assessed to the amount owed and ultimately the outstanding taxes could be considered delinquent.
    The Hawkins County Commission meets August 25 at 7 p.m. in the Hawkins County Courthouse.