Tennessee revenue collections continued an upward growth trend in April, with a net positive growth of 9.67% over April collections one year ago. Finance and Administration Commissioner Mark Emkes reported this month that overall April revenues were $1,386.4 million or $82.8 million more than the state budgeted.
“Sales tax collections recorded the 25th consecutive month of positive growth dating back to April of 2010,” Emkes said. “In addition, corporate Franchise and Excise tax collections continue to be very encouraging, but the Hall Income Tax recorded a negative growth over last April and fell considerably short of the budgeted estimate.
Sales tax collections were $42.9 million more than the budgeted estimate for April. The April growth rate was positive 8.77%. For nine months revenues are over collected by $183.4 million. The year-to-date growth rate for nine months was positive 7.26%.
Hall Income tax collections for April were $15.7 million less than the budgeted estimate. For nine months collections are $18.1 million below the budgeted estimate. The growth rate for the nine month period was negative 4.41%.
Of note to County Highway Departments, gasoline and motor fuel collections for April decreased by 4.07%, and were $2.7 million less than the budgeted estimate. For nine months revenues are negative 1.03%, and $6.4 million below the budgeted estimate of $625.9 million.
From all sources, year-to-date collections for nine months were $412.9 million more than the budgeted estimate. The general fund was over collected by $400 million and the four other funds were over collected by $12.9 million.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
CTAS Updates Model Debt Policy
The UT County Technical Assistance Service has recently updated its guidance for county debt policies. The revised memorandum is available at the CTAS website: http://www.ctas.tennessee.edu/ under the news and featured items. Beginning January 1, 2012, the Tennessee State Funding Board requires counties issuing debt to have adopted a written debt management policy that complies with certain minimum requirements. The 43 page memorandum on the CTAS website will help any county that has not already adopted its policy.
TBI Releases Crime in Tennessee and School Crime Reports
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation recently released the "Crime in Tennessee 2011" report which showed a 1.7% decrease in overall crimes reported in Tennessee in 2011 compared with 2010. This is third year in a row that reported offenses decreased when compared with the previous year. The full report is available for download on-line at:
http://www.tbi.tn.gov/tn_crime_stats/publications/Crime%20in%20Tennessee%202011.pdf
For the 2011, the largest majority of crimes reported were committed against property at more than 58% which is a decrease of 2.5% from the previous year. Crimes against persons also decreased approximately 2%, however, crimes against society increased 3%. Overall, Tennessee has seen crime drop a total of 4.6% since 2009.
In addition, the TBI has also released its special study on crime in Tennessee's schools. Produced by TBI's Crime Statistics Unit, the study spans a three-year period between 2009 and 2011 This report is the second of its kind, following up on the state's first ever school crimes study released in May of 2009.
The reported number of crimes that occurred at schools decreased by 5.5% from 2010 to 2011 with an overall decrease of 6.7% between 2009 and 2011. There were 12,435 crimes reported at schools in 2011 compared to 13,155 in 2010.
The 33 page full report on School Crime can be accessed here:
http://www.tbi.tn.gov/tn_crime_stats/documents/SchoolCrimeStudy2011_FINAL.pdf
It profiles both the offenders and victims of the crimes on school campuses and discusses the involvement of weapons, drugs and alcohol and gangs.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Tennessee Gets No Child Left Behind Waiver
Tennessee was one of ten states today to receive a waiver from the Obama administration from requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. For a full article on this issue from the Knoxville News Sentinnel go here.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Next TCCA Board Meeting - February 2
President Ronnie Raper of Rhea County has called for the next meeting of the board of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. central time on Thursday, February 2nd in Nashville in the ground floor conference room of our office building at 226 Capitol Boulevard. Much of this meeting will focus on specific legislation and consideration of policy positions for the upcoming legislative session. New bills are being filed on a daily basis with bill filing deadlines of February 1 for the House and January 26 for the Senate. To date, approximately 600-700 new bills have been filed in each chamber. It's expected that number with grow to around 2000 total new bills by the end of the month.
State Revenue Collections
Higher than expected business tax collections in December pushed Tennessee revenues past budgeted projections. Finance and Administration commissioner Mark Emkes reported that state revenue collections for December were $965.7 million, or 16.54% above December 2010. December collections posted the eighth consecutive month in which the growth rate has been 5.0% or higher.
“While it's encouraging to see an improvement in business profits, the unexpected overcollection in December could be a timing issue, and as a result future months could be negatively impacted," Emkes said. "Typically, about one-fourth of all franchise and excise tax collections are realized in the month of April, so we’ll continue to closely monitor our spending for the balance of this year.
“We’re very pleased with December sales tax collections, which reflect renewed consumer confidence in our economy. It's important to remember, though, that we’re still not back to pre-2008 collection levels on sales taxes.”
December collections were $123.2 million more than the budgeted estimate. The general fund was over collected by $118.9 million and the four other funds were over collected by $4.3 million.
Sales tax collections were $12.9 million more than the estimate for December. The December growth rate was 6.78%. For five months revenues are over collected by $56.3 million, and the year-to-date growth rate is 6.29%.
Gasoline and motor fuel collections for December increased by 7.65%, and they were $3.2 million above the budgeted estimate of $64.6 million. For five months revenues are under collected by $3.0 million.
Year-to-date collections for five months were $194.2 million more than the budgeted estimate. The general fund was over collected by $188.4 million and the four other funds were over collected by $5.8 million.
The State Funding Board met on December 9th and 14th to hear updated revenue projections from the state’s various economists. The board met again on December 19th and adopted revised revenue ranges for 2011-2012. The revised ranges assume an over collection from the July 2011 budgeted estimate in the amount of $187.8 million to $220.5 million in total taxes and in the amount of $177.0 million to $209.6 million in general fund taxes for the current fiscal year.
“While it's encouraging to see an improvement in business profits, the unexpected overcollection in December could be a timing issue, and as a result future months could be negatively impacted," Emkes said. "Typically, about one-fourth of all franchise and excise tax collections are realized in the month of April, so we’ll continue to closely monitor our spending for the balance of this year.
“We’re very pleased with December sales tax collections, which reflect renewed consumer confidence in our economy. It's important to remember, though, that we’re still not back to pre-2008 collection levels on sales taxes.”
December collections were $123.2 million more than the budgeted estimate. The general fund was over collected by $118.9 million and the four other funds were over collected by $4.3 million.
Sales tax collections were $12.9 million more than the estimate for December. The December growth rate was 6.78%. For five months revenues are over collected by $56.3 million, and the year-to-date growth rate is 6.29%.
Gasoline and motor fuel collections for December increased by 7.65%, and they were $3.2 million above the budgeted estimate of $64.6 million. For five months revenues are under collected by $3.0 million.
Year-to-date collections for five months were $194.2 million more than the budgeted estimate. The general fund was over collected by $188.4 million and the four other funds were over collected by $5.8 million.
The State Funding Board met on December 9th and 14th to hear updated revenue projections from the state’s various economists. The board met again on December 19th and adopted revised revenue ranges for 2011-2012. The revised ranges assume an over collection from the July 2011 budgeted estimate in the amount of $187.8 million to $220.5 million in total taxes and in the amount of $177.0 million to $209.6 million in general fund taxes for the current fiscal year.
Treasurer Lillard Proposes New Pension Options for Local Governments
To give local governments more choices for their employees’ retirement plans, Tennessee State Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr. today proposed several new options to state legislators for their consideration.
Lillard stressed that none of the suggested changes would affect K-12 teachers, state employees or higher education employees who are covered under the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS). The changes, which would require approval by the General Assembly, are optional for local governments and would only affect new hires. The proposed options do not affect any current retirees of TCRS.
“Our city and county governments across Tennessee have to balance the need to be good stewards of taxpayer money with the need to offer fair retirement benefits to their employees,” Treasurer Lillard said. “The goal is to make sure pension benefits are affordable, sustainable and sufficient. That’s why I am recommending some choices that would give local governments greater flexibility to meet their specific needs.”
The options presented today were:
· local governments may take no action and remain in the current TCRS defined benefit pension plan with retirement generally at 30 years of service or age 60; or
· local governments may adopt a TCRS defined benefit pension plan with an annual service accrual rate of 1.4%, with an increase in retirement age, limits on cost of living adjustments, a cap on maximum allowed benefits and a revised employee contribution structure; or
· local governments may adopt a TCRS defined benefit pension plan with an annual service accrual rate of 1% to offer reduced pension benefits, but with a supplemental deferred compensation program; or
· local governments may decide to offer only a deferred compensation program as a stand-alone option.
The proposals were developed following open meetings held throughout Tennessee with more than 200 local government representatives last fall.
“Over the last couple of years, we have had several local governments either withdraw or give notice that they planned to withdraw from TCRS due to changes in market conditions,” Treasurer Lillard said. “We are offering these options because we want local governments to remain part of TCRS, which is in the best interests of local governments, their employees and the citizens they serve. We believe local governments will be more inclined to do that if we’re offering more choices.”
Treasurer Lillard presented his ideas during a meeting of the General Assembly’s Council on Pensions and Insurance. For a copy of the local government pension option proposals and other documents, go to http://treasury.tn.gov/tcrs and look at the tab titled “Proposed Plans for Local Gov’t.”
Lillard stressed that none of the suggested changes would affect K-12 teachers, state employees or higher education employees who are covered under the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS). The changes, which would require approval by the General Assembly, are optional for local governments and would only affect new hires. The proposed options do not affect any current retirees of TCRS.
“Our city and county governments across Tennessee have to balance the need to be good stewards of taxpayer money with the need to offer fair retirement benefits to their employees,” Treasurer Lillard said. “The goal is to make sure pension benefits are affordable, sustainable and sufficient. That’s why I am recommending some choices that would give local governments greater flexibility to meet their specific needs.”
The options presented today were:
· local governments may take no action and remain in the current TCRS defined benefit pension plan with retirement generally at 30 years of service or age 60; or
· local governments may adopt a TCRS defined benefit pension plan with an annual service accrual rate of 1.4%, with an increase in retirement age, limits on cost of living adjustments, a cap on maximum allowed benefits and a revised employee contribution structure; or
· local governments may adopt a TCRS defined benefit pension plan with an annual service accrual rate of 1% to offer reduced pension benefits, but with a supplemental deferred compensation program; or
· local governments may decide to offer only a deferred compensation program as a stand-alone option.
The proposals were developed following open meetings held throughout Tennessee with more than 200 local government representatives last fall.
“Over the last couple of years, we have had several local governments either withdraw or give notice that they planned to withdraw from TCRS due to changes in market conditions,” Treasurer Lillard said. “We are offering these options because we want local governments to remain part of TCRS, which is in the best interests of local governments, their employees and the citizens they serve. We believe local governments will be more inclined to do that if we’re offering more choices.”
Treasurer Lillard presented his ideas during a meeting of the General Assembly’s Council on Pensions and Insurance. For a copy of the local government pension option proposals and other documents, go to http://treasury.tn.gov/tcrs and look at the tab titled “Proposed Plans for Local Gov’t.”
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