Greene County Mayor Alan Broyles said Wednesday that the county budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, which begins July 1, will be late this year, because of uncertainty about state cuts in county revenues.

Broyles also said he does not think that raises will be possible for county employees this year, certainly not at levels shown in preliminary budget printouts, because of conditions in the economy that are depressing revenues.

Broyles made the comments at the end of a meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee, which he chairs.

After telling the committee that it probably needs to continue to meet weekly to work on the proposed budget, Broyles said he had come to the conclusion that budgets will be late after talking to other county mayors.

"They feel, as I do, that budgets are going to be late," Mayor Broyles said, because "we're at the mercy of the state."

The committee has discussed several times that the possibility of state cuts in shared revenues for counties and municipalities has been mentioned by state officials, but no specifics have yet been disclosed.

The bulk of the county's revenue (outside of the county school system's budget) comes from property taxes on houses and land.

The county government also receives revenues from sales taxes. The county also depends on revenues from the Halls Income Tax on investments, payments in lieu of property taxes on land and structures owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, and on several other state-controlled sources.

The majority of funding for school systems comes from the state, but is much less subject to fluctuations.

Several years ago, state officials reduced the county's "shared revenues" during a difficult financial period for the state, but actual cuts were not as drastic as those initially proposed. But this caused uncertainty in the budget-making process.

If county officials cannot draft and approve a budget before the new fiscal year begins, the county commission can pass what is called a "continuing resolution" that allows county departments to continue to operate at levels set in the current budget, spending one-twelfth of the previous year's total allocations each month until a new budget is in place.

The committee directed Budget Director David Lawing to prepare a new draft budget without any pay increases. The committee has been working with a document that Lawing prepared based on a 2.3 percent cost-of-living increase, and on the countywide pay scale.

Lawing told the committee that he calculated employee pay based on either the 2.3 percent increase, or on a figure designed to "close the gap" by 40 percent between what employees are paid this year, and what the county pay scale says they would be making if the scale were fully implemented.

Broyles said county revenues are going to be lower than had been projected for this year. He and others said they do not think that pay raises are realistic this year, based on current economic conditions.

In addition to acting on several budget-related matters that will be on the agenda at the May 19 county commission meeting, the committee reviewed proposed 2008-09 operational budgets for several more county departments.

Madge Walker, director of the Greeneville-Greene County Library, asked the committee to consider appropriating $1,739, which is half of the cost of repairing what she called "two huge depressions" in the library's driveway. A matching amount is being sought from the city, she said.

Walker said the driveway is used heavily, and use will increase when the Farmer's Market begins soon.

The committee took no action.

The commission briefly reviewed the budget for the University of Tennessee's Extension Service. Director Milton Orr said the extension office currently has three open positions, the most in his memory.

Commissioner John Cox said the request is $3 less than the budget for this year. "That's a good thing," Cox said.

Orr said that although the bottom line is virtually the same, he will rearrange the budget internally in an effort to try to hire a 4-H director with enough experience to take that student program to a higher level.

Orr said UT expects counties the size of Greene County to pay 43 percent of the cost of the extension office, and that level of funding is in the $118,414 budget he requested.

No action was taken.

The committee also reviewed the budget for the county's Veterans Service officer, Steve Alexander.

The total budget for that department, which assists local veterans in dealing with the federal government, is $104,457, about a $7,000 increase as presented Wednesday. Most of the increase was in employee benefits.

In response to a question about Internet service for the office, Alexander said the office does have Internet, but the computer it is used on is the personal property of his secretary, as is the fax machine.

Mayor Broyles said that County Clerk David Thompson has recently upgraded one computer and offered to let the veterans office have the old one.

The committee also reviewed the budgets that cover the county's Building and Zoning Office, which has three employees.

A portion of one employee's salary is paid by the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, because she deals with septic system applications and permits, said Leon Bird, the building commissioner.

Cox said that because that office will be enforcing a building code, if one is adopted, that all of its employees need to be certified to enforce the code.

Bird said Tim Tweed, his assistant, has that certification now, and if a code is adopted, he personally would have one year to obtain certification.

Broyles said Tweed has paid for classes related to that certification out of his own pocket, and needs to be reimbursed, probably next month. Bird also noted that Tweed obtained a set of code manuals at his own cost.

The Animal Control budget was also reviewed. Director Eddie Key said that department has three full-time employees and one part-timer who works on weekends. The operational portion of the department's proposed budget is virtually unchanged.

The Health Department budget was also reviewed. Director Rebekah English said no new employees are in the budget, but the current budget did not have a full-time dentist, and one has now been hired. The committee is not yet dealing with pay, but English said she would like to appear before the committee again to discuss the dentist's salary, when the time comes.

English said she put $10,000 into her budget to replace a roof over one portion of the building that has been leaking for three years and can no longer be put off.

The budgets for the Circuit Court Clerk were reviewed. Circuit Clerk Gail Jeffers noted that her budget appears to show a $16,000 increase, but said that is primarily because of litigation fees her clerks collect that are used outside the department, primarily for vehicles and equipment for the sheriff's department, and for courthouse security.

Jeffers said she is aware that offices that collect fees, such as her own, have to share revenues with offices that do not generate revenue for the county to be able to operate.

She said her "good deputy clerks who work hard as the dickens" collected about $175,000 in total fees last year. She noted that, without their work, there would be no litigation fee to buy cruisers for the sheriff's department, or money to upgrade courthouse security.

Jeffers said that when a new roof was put on the courthouse office annex several years ago, she asked that rewiring the courthouse be the next project to be funded.

"That's really important to me," Jeffers said. She said the current wiring in the building is 30 years old, and has problems that need attention, mentioning a circuit breaker box that is always hot and has to be tripped frequently.

Mayor Broyles said this was the first mention he had heard of this, and Jeffers acknowledged that. Mayor Broyles said the circuit box would get immediate attention, and no action by the committee would be needed, since such matters are already covered by the county's buildings budget.