Crossville city council meets in special called session Tuesday May 17 to discuss budget and tax rate.

A special called meeting has been set by the Crossville city council to be held Tuesday evening May 17 starting at 5 PM.

Council members have worked on the budget individually with city staff and met twice in work session to discuss the general fund and water and sewer budgets.  The budget started out at $2.4 million in the hole and after work by interim city manager Steve Hill and city finance director Fred Houston that deficit was reduced to $900,000.

The special called meeting will start out with a discussion of the budget and review of the changes that have already been made.  Following the discussion, the first reading of the budget and the tax rate in title only are expected to be approved.  Three readings of each ordinance are required for final approval before the budget goes into effect July 1, 2016.

The city's current property tax rate is $.063.  It is unclear if the rate will change.

Council members continue to take shots at each other over meetings.  Councilman Pete Souza released the following statement about the meeting saying he would be unavailable to attend,

Souza's statement is: "the process to which this budget was developed was not through the open transparency of the work shop process which was put on for show, but rather a host of deals created some where else other than in public view. This new process as part of the NEW ORDER of the Tri -Pac might as well say if you want anything in the form of city money we (Wyatt an Kerley) are the ones to deal with because we control the council.

Councilman Kerley responded with the following comment: "Actually the Mayor set this meeting. You still are struggling getting your facts straight."