By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — The Metro Council voted 12-2 Monday night to approve the county’s 2026-27 general budget on second and final reading, after a public hearing and council debate that touched on school spending, sheriff’s office staffing levels and the county’s reliance on fund balance to cover recurring expenses.

The vote came during a special called meeting at the Metro Council building, where the only item on the agenda was the budget.

{Editor’s Note: Public meeting coverage is crucial to the health of any community. This article remains free for the first 30 days to all readers thanks to reader support and our community partners at Barrel House Barbecue. Please support the local small businesses that support your community newspaper.}

Before the council took up the budget, the meeting opened with a public hearing. Bruce Church, a District 1 resident who recently moved here from Colorado, told the council that budget discussions appeared to involve little scrutiny, citing the school budget and the county’s jail renovation bid process, which drew a single bid rather than the multiple bids he said is standard practice for large expenditures.

Council Chair Amy Cashion responded that budget review takes place primarily in the budget committee, which is open to the public, and that items are vetted there before being brought to the full council for a vote.

Pam Church, also of District 1, told the council she and her husband had moved from Colorado after experiencing a 40 percent property tax increase there and said that experience made them attentive to local budget decisions. She asked whether the county has a purchasing department or an ethics committee.

Chair Cashion said the county does not have a dedicated purchasing department, calling it a recurring audit finding, and said the cost of establishing one has not had council support in past budgets. She said committee meetings and board meetings are open to the public and encouraged residents to attend.

A written public comment was also read into the record by Regina Adcock, expressing concern that council members had been discouraged from asking detailed budget questions and that department heads had not been permitted to answer questions directly during budget deliberations. She urged the council to allow department heads to respond to council questions, to provide adequate time for questions before votes, and to review its public comment procedures.

Again, Chair Cashion said committee meetings and board meetings are open to the public and encouraged residents to attend.

During the second reading, council member Robert Bracewell read a list of questions he said had been submitted by a constituent, covering the budget’s reliance on fund balance to cover recurring operating costs, payroll growth over the past eight years, and repeat findings in state comptroller audits.

Council member Gerald Burnett responded that answering that level of detail would require a dedicated finance department staff, which the county does not fund, and said much of that review already takes place in budget committee meetings open to the public. Cashion added that the county is audited annually by the state comptroller’s office and does not separately employ an outside CPA firm.

BUDGET PASSES ON A 12-2 MARGIN

The general budget passed 12-2 on second reading. The council also approved, on separate motions, a resolution setting the county’s tax levy at 1.7612 for rural residents and $1.768 for those in the urban services district as well as an appropriations resolution for the county’s various funds, an appropriations resolution for nonprofit and charitable organizations, and several line-item budget amendments. Per Mayor Sloan Stewart, the majority of the budget amendments were simply the housekeeping of moving funds from one budget to another.

Shane Taylor, Douglas Carson, Sunny Rae Moorehead, Arvis Bobo, Marty Cashion, Gerald Burnett, Amy Cashion, Dexter Golden, Jimmy Hammond, and Houston Lindsey, John Taylor, and Bradley Dye voted in favor of the budget. Robert Bracewell and Peggy Sue Blackburn cast the two dissenting votes. Greg Guinn was absent form the meeting.

The Metro Council meets every third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Building. All meeting are open to the general public and there is a public comment period prior to each meeting. •

About the Lynchburg Times: The Lynchburg Times is Moore County’s locally owned, independent news source and the only Lynchburg media source own by a Lynchburg native. We are also one of the few women-owned media organizations in the state. Our reporting is supported by readers, small business partners, and underwriters who believe community journalism matters. If this story was valuable to you, consider becoming a supporter at lynchburgtimes.com.