02/13/2015

Good morning, fellow MTASers.

I know I’m “preachin’ to the choir” when I say that the first several months of the calendar year are particularly busy with a lot of administrative stuff. One of those things is finalizing the budget for the upcoming new fiscal year which begins on July 1 ^st . I use the term “finalizing” because I look at preparing a budget to be a year-round effort – not something that starts on a particular date during the winter and finishes up on a certain date in the spring. We’ve made some good progress in the past few years making budgeting an every-day thing.

Each year around this time, though, the pace picks up, particularly right after the governor submits his proposed budget to the legislature. Perhaps you watched Governor Haslam’s “State of the State” address this past Monday night. In that, he gave a very high-level overview of his priorities for the upcoming fiscal year and how he proposed to fund those things. No. He didn’t speak about IPS and MTAS and CTAS specifically. I doubt that any governor has done that in that venue. But, if you take time and search through the document that is hundreds of pages long, you’ll see IPS, MTAS and CTAS as specific line items in the plan.

With very little time to read through and understand the details, Gail White (IPS’s chief business officer) was able to provide some very preliminary information to all the directors when we met Tuesday with Herb in Cookeville. I learned that the Governor’s plan includes about $135,000 for MTAS. Some of that is directed towards operational improvements. Some is directed towards a salary pool. Some of that is directed towards anticipated increases in our insurance premiums (the portion UT pays for us). Obviously, I was happy to hear that we may be able to enjoy some improvements.

I emphasize that we “may be able to enjoy some improvements”. Next week, Dale and Rick will attend a meeting with Gail and other IPS managers where, hopefully, some of the details we need to know to be able to move ahead with finalizing the budget can be learned. I look forward to sharing what they learn in the meeting with you…and I hope to be able to do that sometime next week. With a little more certain information to work with, Dale and Rick will meet with program managers to get needed input…with our target date of presenting our budget plan to Herb on April 7 ^th . Lots to be done before then and I’ll work hard to keep you informed of what’s going on.

Lastly, a bit of a reality check. About 90% of MTAS’s budget is directed towards the “human resource”. Certainly, the most valuable resource we could ever have. The remaining 10% goes towards operational things needed by the human resource to do what we do. So, those numbers easily tell us we don’t have a whole lot of “wiggle room” to add new things each year…new folks…new consulting disciplines…new training programs…the list goes on. Do we need new folks, new consulting and new training? Yep. We do…and we’ll continue to work hard to get the money resources we need for the future. As I’ve already said, I’m thrilled that we may enjoy some improvements in the upcoming year, but let’s not leave this conversation thinking that every “I want” we collectively have can be satisfied.

Yep, I know. Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” quite like a message from me talking about budget stuff. So, enjoy the weekend and stay warm…and know that what you do every day for Tennessee towns and cities is noticed and appreciated.

Jim Thomas, Executive Director
UT Municipal Technical Advisory Service
(O) 615. 532.4950 (C) 615.972.9219

jim.thomas@tennessee.edu

www.mtas.tennessee.edu