Reluctant no votes, but budget passes 3-2
A new Town budget for fiscal year 2026 (July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026) was passed on second, and final, reading in a 3-2 vote when Farragut Board of Aldermen met in its regular session Thursday, June 24.
While Mayor Ron Williams, Vice Mayor Scott Meyer and Alderman Drew Burnette voted to approve the budget, Aldermen Alex Cain and David White voted against passing the budget (same vote results as with first reading Thursday, June 10).
“A year ago, we voted for the budget, I was a ‘no’ vote,” White said. “The reason being there was $500,000 within that budget for land procurement, which turned out, as everyone knows, to be a lawsuit … we needed $500,000 to actually take someone’s property against their will.”
White said he did not want to vote for the procurement, but the Board could not separate the vote on the budget and the vote on the procurement.
“Last meeting (June 10), the same thing occurred,” White said. “We did not separate the two, so it’s necessary for me to stay with my word and my belief that we should never take anybody’s property. I will be forced to vote against the entire (budget) again, unfortunately.”
“Last meeting (June 10), I was also a ‘no’ vote due to the same reasons as Alderman White,” Cain said. “When I came on this Board a little over a year ago, that was one of the things I was (against); we cannot do this kind of stuff to our citizens in this Town.
“And, I spoke, as a candidate, against this (Turkey Creek and Brixworth) project back then,” he added, also noting there are other projects in which he observed the Town did not have community input.“So I will be a ‘no’ vote also,” Cain added.
New budget amendments:
• adding $1,200 in expenditures for ICMA membership and $1,000 for benefit disbursement (two receptionists and a new hire) to the Human Resources fund;
• deducting $500 for benefit disbursement (two receptionists) from Community Development fund;
• adding $105,000 to expenditures for Enterprise Resource Planning annual maintenance to Information Technology department fund;
• deducting $75,000 from expenditures for a special census from legislative expenditures;
• adding $10,000 to expenditures for Campbell Station Inn building maintenance from General Government fund;
• adding $4,000 to expenditures for personnel benefits in Community Center fund.
• adding $20,000 to expenditures for traffic signal maintenance;
• adding $16,000 to expenditures for Town-wide fiber project audit;
• adding $9,000 to expenditures for Community Development personnel;
• Tourism fund amendments: adding $10,000 in revenues for event tickets/fees, deducting overtime costs by $4,153, and adding benefit disbursement, $500 for museum and adding $1,500 benefit disbursement in Tourism.
• amendments to Capital Investment Plan fund: adding $75,000 for greenway paving and maintenance, adding $65,000 for Town Hall HVAC unit replacements and deducting $40,000 for McFee Park tennis resurfacing.
Town administrator David Smoak said the Town’s revenues in the General Fund remain at $17,817,804 while expenditures come to $12,173,643.
Meanwhile, Smoak said the Capital Investment Program fund has $17,402,000 in projects planned to get under way in Fiscal Year 2026. Among those is construction of Boyd Station Road multi-modal improvements and Union Road multi-modal improvements, intersection improvements at Campbell Station Road and Jamestown Blvd., and also Concord Road and Loop Road.
