County commissioners approve 2013 budget and tax rate

By Jason R. Mullins

The Carter County Commission approved the 2013 budget and property tax rate at their Monday morning meeting in Elizabethton.

As part of the plan, the commission agreed to keep the property tax rate for the upcoming year at $2.15 per $100 of assessed value. County Commissioner Charlie Bayless presented the motion, which includes 86.5 cents for the county general fund, 11.5 cents for debt service, 13 cents for the highway department and $1.04 for the school system.

The vote on the tax rate prompted some controversy after some commissioners commented that they had not been advised of some new figures that prompted the decision to keep the tax rate as-is from 2012. The vote on the tax rate passed by a vote of 19-5, with Commissioners Nancy Brow, Charles Von Cannon, Tom “Yogi” Bowers, Scott Sams and Bill Armstrong voting “nay.”

A full report on the meeting will be available in Tuesday’s edition of the Elizabethton STAR and later on starhq.com.