Everyone working in Simpson County can expect a slight increase in their occupational taxes beginning in July.

On Friday, at a special meeting of Simpson Fiscal Court, the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 passed a second and final reading. The budget includes roughly $15.089 million in expenditures, an increase of about $366,000 over the current fiscal year’s budget, and an increase in occupational tax rates from 0.75 percent to 1 full percent of paychecks in the county.

At a fiscal court meeting May 21, the budget and tax increase were approved on first reading by three of four magistrates and Judge-Executive Mason Barnes, who read a prepared statement in defense of the increase.

The statement said the decision to raise the occupational tax was spurred by issues with funding local 911 services and the increased pension contribution the county is expected to pay in the state’s efforts to fix its ailing pension system.

“It is extremely fiscally irresponsible to know that you are facing a situation such as this and choose to ignore it,” the statement said.

The statement called attention to a number of the county’s obligations that convinced Barnes that an increase in the occupational tax was necessary, including difficulties with funding local 911 services, a state-mandated $135,000 increase in the county’s pension contributions and the possibility the fiscal court will soon have to help the Simpson County Health Department pay its own pension contributions, which could jump from 49 percent to 84 percent.

“It is worth noting that this pension issue was not created by us, nor did it just now arise this year. This situation has been staring us in the face for the last 2 or 3 years,” the statement said. “I believe the magistrates who voted to affirm this ordinance are to be commended. I have said before that saying no can be very difficult, but sometimes saying yes is even more difficult. This was definitely one of those times where saying yes was more difficult.”

At the meeting in May, East District Magistrate Marty Chandler was the sole magistrate to vote against the budget, and by extension the tax increase.

He again was the only no vote Friday.

Chandler said he does not believe raising occupational taxes to be necessary, arguing that roughly $353,000 in the approved budget that went into a surplus fund could be used to help with the pension payments.

Chandler also said an existing agreement that splits occupational tax revenue 80/20 between the Franklin-Simpson Industrial Authority and the county could potentially be reworked into a 70/30 agreement.

“I believe you need to be reactive instead of proactive when it comes to raising taxes,” he said. “Don’t raise your taxes until you absolutely … that’s your last resort and I don’t feel that we’re at that last resort at this time.”

Barnes, speaking after the meeting adjourned, said renegotiating the 80/20 split would not make a sizable difference.

He also criticized Chandler’s notion that the surplus wasn’t being used to address the county’s financial issues.

With projections showing an incremental increase in the county’s retirement contributions for the next decade, topping off at $2.7 million that the county will likely have to provide for the state’s pension system, Barnes said the fiscal court is putting money in the surplus now to save the money that will be needed to pay ever-increasing yearly contributions.

“I mean if we don’t start building some revenue in these first few years … by the time we get to the last half of the time period on it, we’ll be in a negative cash position,” he said. “(The money in the surplus is) just being used to build your reserve to be able to pay it on the back end.”

With the occupational tax and a monthly $2 fee on county water meters going into effect July 1, the county will have enough money to fully fund 911 services and pay its pension contributions in the next fiscal year, Barnes said.