At 9:00 a.m. Thursday, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett will unveil his spending proposal for county departments in the fiscal year that begins in July.
Burchett has kept many of the details close to the vest in the days leading up to his announcement at the City-County Building in downtown Knoxville. It is expected that he will not grant a request from the Knox County school system for $4.5 million to pay for employee raises. Burchett has said that if school leaders are serious about providing the raises, the money should be found within the school system's budget allocation.
Sluggish tax revenues were an overarching factor in assembling the budget. County finance director Chris Caldwell cautioned Burchett and others to expect slow growth in revenues for the remainder of this fiscal year and into FY 2015.
Even with the slow projections, Burchett won't include a tax hike in his budget. Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero proposed a property tax increase in her FY 2015 budget presentation last month.