ELIZABETHTON â Despite a sharply divided disagreement over funding for the Elizabethton/Carter County Animal Shelter on Monday evening, it was mostly smooth sailing for the Carter County Commission in passing a new budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The commissioners also passed the certified tax rate of $2.03. That is down from the $2.47 rate passed by the commission last year, before the latest countywide assessment of property but determined by the state comptrollerâs office to bring in the same amount of property tax revenue.
The only serious controversy during the passage of the new budget was an attempt to reduce the countyâs contribution to the animal shelter that is jointly operated by the city and the county. The total contribution to the shelter by the city, county and other means in 2020-21 was $492,000. Several commissioners discussed reducing the total amount to $400,000 by reducing the countyâs share, but were not able to gather the 13 votes needed
ELIZABETHTON â A new organization is being set up in Carter County and Elizabethton to provide a one-stop resource center to meet the needs of the homeless population in the region.
The Carter Compassion Center received confirmation from the Internal Revenue Service last week that its 501 ( c ) 3 designation had been approved.
It was the latest step forward for a group that formed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic but which has still managed to maintain momentum in meeting its mission of ministering to the homeless.
It got its start a couple of years ago with an aim of the Health and Welfare Committee of the Carter County Commission to establish a joint task force of city and county groups to deal with the local homeless problem.
Donation of 28 acres accepted to add to trail
ELIZABETHTON â By a 21-2 vote, the Carter County Commission voted Thursday to accept a donation of 28 acres of land between Valley Forge and Hampton that could extend the Tweetsie Trail by 4.5 miles and provide connections with the Hampton Springs Watershed Mountain Bicycle Trail and Green Bridge Park in Hampton.
The property being donated is the route by which the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad used to operate a narrow gauge rail line between Valley Forge and Hampton. It extends from Mill Pond in Valley Forge to Railroad Street in the Rittertown Road area of Hampton. The donation also includes a tunnel that is in good shape and a bridge over the Doe River that is unsafe.
ELIZABETHTON — The Carter County Commission voted 15-8 on Monday night to stop an apparently unintended distribution of county sales tax revenue to the Elizabethton City School System.
ELIZABETHTON — One of the items the Carter County Commission will consider during its next meeting on March 15 will be a resolution declaring the county as a “sanctuary county”