TCSA Legislative Platform 2022

2022 TCSA Legislative Platform

General Legislative Policy Statement

The Tennessee County Services Association, and its affiliates - the Association of County Mayors of Tennessee, Tennessee County Commissioners Association and Tennessee County Highway Officials Association - generally oppose legislation which has the effect of imposing additional unfunded mandates on Tennessee’s 95 county governments, or which further erodes the narrow tax base currently available to Tennessee counties. Further, county associations will defend against intrusions into the already limited local autonomy vested in county governments. TCSA will support the legislative platforms of its affiliates when they promote the mutual missions of our affiliate associations.

Local Mandates

TCSA opposes any local unfunded mandates. Any change in law that costs county governments money that does not have a source of funding to offset that cost is considered a local unfunded mandate. Local mandates put pressure on an already stressed local property tax rate. Unfunded mandates are a leading cause of property tax increases. We also oppose the mandatory earmarking of any local revenue sources for specific purposes. This undermines the ability of county officials to make yearly budgetary decisions based on their needs and priorities as best determined by the local governing body. Just like the state opposes federal mandates, we oppose the state putting unfunded mandates on local governments.

Transportation Infrastructure

Maintaining a sustainable ongoing source of funding for county transportation infrastructure projects remains a priority for the Tennessee County Services Association and its affiliates as we work to preserve our critical infrastructure for current and future generations. Associations recognize that the economic prosperity of the state is vital to its growth and fiscal success and want to continue the partnership between local governments and the state in meeting the growing demands that come from those successes.

With growth in population comes additional demands on road and bridge infrastructure. In order to meet those needs, the Associations ask that the Administration and Legislature support the tools local governments must have to adequately care for the safety and welfare of the motoring public, including being able to appropriately manage rights-of-way as local officials plan for such things as the education, emergency management and transportation infrastructure expansions that come with that growth. TCSA and its affiliates appreciate the Department of Transportation’s extraordinary efforts to coordinate and cooperate with local officials in the implementation and management of such programs as the State Aid program, the Bridge Grant program and the high Priority Bridge Replacement Program. These are programs that have proved themselves in providing for desperately needed repairs to help ensure the safety of Tennessee motorists and preserve the efficiency of our entire transportation network.

Associations are supportive of efforts by the Administration and Legislature to provide one-time funds to local governments. We ask that counties be allowed additional flexibility in using any future one-time funds provided by the state so that highway infrastructure improvements are made a priority.

K-12 Education Funding

Understanding the critical role a quality public education system plays in the preservation of health and economic viability of our communities, TCSA supports the complete and full funding of the Basic Education Program (BEP). This includes support for continued annual inflationary growth in both state and local match portions of the BEP formula, as well as the capital outlay component of the formula.

As the State embarks on a review of how K-12 education is funded, it is hoped that the Administration and General Assembly will regard Tennessee counties as partners in offering local education opportunities to our children and would recognize that county governments continue to invest far more than statutorily required in our public education system. This commitment is evidenced by the hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted annually “above and beyond” the basic amounts deemed necessary as a local match by the BEP formula. If changes are made to education funding, we ask the Administration and the General Assembly engage with representatives from local funding bodies. Further, we ask that any future funding formula maintain those aspects of the BEP formula that seek to equalize funding across diverse school systems and provide for inflationary components that recognize the rising costs of education.

TCSA asks the General Assembly and the Administration to be cognizant of the fact that the significant number of changes and educational reforms being implemented in Tennessee has placed tremendous stress on Local Education Agencies. These reforms have not always been accompanied by the resources to pay for these efforts. TCSA appreciates the addition of a funding component to the BEP for Response to Instruction and Intervention programs and would ask that the state provide additional funding whenever educational reform efforts add new costs or programs to the local school system.

TCSA is opposed to legislation that would divert funding from the public K-12 education system to non-public schools through vouchers or scholarships. Many have said with regard to school choice options that the funding would follow the student. However, there has not been a serious examination of whether the costs follow that student who leaves the traditional classroom and takes the associated state and local funding with them. Our concern is the state is left without further funding obligations, while locals still must meet financial obligations to address fixed costs that remain in the local education budget, despite the loss of some students.

TCSA further asks that the General Assembly consider the continuation of “hold harmless” funding to preserve the level of funding for county school systems despite the fluctuation of daily membership in schools as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Criminal Justice

The housing and healthcare costs of maintaining a state prisoner population in a local jail facility remain a top priority for TCSA as its membership continues to face pressures created by providing this service to the state. TCSA wants to work with the Administration and General Assembly to develop a funding mechanism that better reflects the actual cost of such services.

TCSA also asks the General Assembly to consider initiatives that could assist counties in managing growing costs of medical expenses, pharmaceuticals, and the mandated transportation of inmates and other individuals, including those sent for mental health evaluations. To that end, TCSA urges lawmakers to authorize new cost saving measures to help reduce the financial burden, particularly rising inmate medical costs, that counties face in dealing with the cost of housing all prisoners and we encourage the Administration and General Assembly to take all appropriate steps to better manage the state inmate population in order to alleviate the backlog of convicted felons housed in jails.

One of the fastest growing populations in local jails is made up of individuals kept in custody pre-trial. TCSA asks the General Assembly, working in conjunction with the Judiciary, to look at reforms to the systems currently utilized to determine whether an individual is held in custody pre-trial. Specifically, TCSA would ask that the General Assembly consider reforms that would encourage the use of evidence-based risk assessments instead of systems predominantly dependent upon the inmate’s financial resources. TCSA supports efforts to enact reforms to enable improved management of both juvenile and adult incarcerated populations to ensure that public safety is protected by providing adequate secure facilities for dangerous, violent offenders while striving to improve outcomes for other individuals that become involved in the criminal justice system. This includes programs to identify and divert individuals who would be better served through mental health services, programs to address addiction and substance abuse, and re-entry programs designed to reduce recidivism and lower crime rates, saving taxpayer dollars and making our communities safer.

During the pandemic, the state saw a dramatic drop in the number of individuals held in local jails, especially among individuals held pre-trial on non-violent offenses. We would hope that the General Assembly and the Judicial System would closely examine the effects of changed practices instituted as a result of the pandemic to find those practices that could be implemented to alleviate over-crowding of local jails after the pandemic without compromising public safety.

Opioid Epidemic

TCSA is appreciative of efforts by the General Assembly, the Administration and the Attorney General’s Office to include county governments in the discussions relative to the appropriate distribution and uses of funds received through opioid litigation and settlements. The association supports a multi-faceted, targeted approach to preserve lives, protect public safety and provide resources to assist Tennesseans struggling with this addiction. In addition to the terrible impacts on individual lives and families in our communities, this substance abuse problem is putting increased pressure on our already over-crowded county jails. Without adequate substance abuse treatment programs in place to curb this addiction, counties are concerned that we will continue to see a “revolving door” as inmates leaving our local jails are still severely addicted to these drugs and will likely re-offend and return to the criminal justice system in a short time. These problems were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Shared Funding and Revenue Sources

TCSA asks the Administration and General Assembly to recognize that counties provide critical and fundamental government services to the citizens of Tennessee. While counties receive some forms of state-shared taxes to assist county governments in delivering these services, these funding sources are relatively stagnant and do not keep pace with rising costs of service delivery. As the demands on county government continue to grow, TCSA asks the General Assembly to consider enacting a new state-shared funding source for county governments that will keep pace with these rising costs whenever the state experiences a windfall in revenue. TCSA also asks that the Administration and the General Assembly preserve the relatively limited funding sources we have in Tennessee to fund essential governmental services. Erosion of the tax base during positive economic conditions will result in even more drastic shortfalls in lean times.

Specific Legislative Initiatives

In addition to the general policy statements above, the Tennessee County Services Association specifically endorses the following legislative initiatives:

Reducing the administrative fee charged by the state department of revenue for collecting and administering local option sales tax in order to return move of those funds to the jurisdictions that levy those taxes.
Eliminating the additional state sales tax of 2.75% on the cost of a purchase from $1,600 to $3,200 and allowing the local option sales tax rate to apply up to $3,200 instead of capping it at $1,600.
Amending current statutory language to provide that $1.00 of the pre-disposal fee charged on tires be sent directly to the county where the tire was sold to be used for beneficial end use or disposal of waste tires.