Russell praised on KCS $ limit view
Letter to the editor
I am writing to praise and support my District 5 Knox County Commissioner, Angela Russell. She publicly asked some important and reasonable questions about the recently approved county budget.
The farragutpress reported June 4, “On one of her two major Knox County Government spending reduction recommendations concerning its fiscal year 2026 budget, Knox County Commissioner Angela Russell said she wanted a roughly $10 million cut from the roughly $700 million already in the proposed budget for Knox County Schools pending final KCC approval.”
This should be noted: this is not a cut to the Knox County Schools budget, merely a reduction in the Knox County School Board’s large voluntary increase in excess of the state required “Maintenance of Effort (MOE).” The School Board requested an additional $25 million this year, which was $10 million more than the state-required MOE.
More and more citizens are becoming aware of a looming financial crisis for Knox County. The conservative approach to our financial situation is to cut spending wherever possible as demonstrated by Angela Russell’s simple common-sense question: why has the school budget ballooned by 35 percent since 2021 while enrollment has declined?
In fact, according to Betsy Henderson, chair of the Knox County School Board (6th District, which includes Hardin Valley) speaking June 8 on “Tennessee this Week” on WATE-TV, since COVID Knox County Schools has lost 3,000 students. That is a lot of students. I am glad at least one County Commissioner is paying attention.
I wish Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Knox County Commissioner Terry Hill would take the suggested $10 million saved and use it to create a middle turn lane on Northshore Drive from Concord Road to Choto Road. Unfortunately, the Mayor and the Commissioner approved adding 2 feet of pavement on each lane and an unneeded pedestrian greenway in front of Jefferson Park against the wishes of residents there.
That extra pavement won’t help at all when car wrecks paralyze Northshore Drive. A middle turn lane would.
To paraphrase an old joke, $10 million here and $10 million there, and before you know it, it adds up to real money.
For two decades Knox County roads have been neglected. Our county does not have the extra money to voluntarily exceed the school MOE; we have to fix the roads now. This $10 million has more important uses.
The budget process currently impacts $1.1 billion of our tax dollars, and based on this recent kerfuffle, I have very little confidence that these millions are being allocated wisely and with the best interest of the voters.
Neither the Mayor nor Commissioner Hill are state-licensed accountants, while Angela Russell is. I am proud to have a voice of wisdom in the fiscal wilderness of Knox County.
Lawrence Segrest, Farragut
