knoxcounty.org

[Dwight Van de Vate]

We have added a bit of new information about your government to knoxcounty.org. On the right hand side of the home page, you will now see a section titled "County Snapshot." Under it is a row of buttons linking to information about the business of Knox County. While a number of these have been in place for some time, we added an additional one today, "Position Summary." This links to a chart listing all of the positions currently listed in Knox County's Human Resources system, along with related salary information.

Other buttons link to current p-card statements, fleet records and to purchasing information. The "Recent Awards" button lists all of the bids recently awarded to companies doing business with the County. If you have an interest in seeing how your tax dollars are spent, you really should take a look.

Dwight Van de Vate
Chief Administrative Officer
Knox County Mayor's Office

[Scott]

Hey Dwight

Isn't your father an artist? If so I hung out with him some at the Bijou Theatre.

[Dwight Van de Vate]

he sure is, though at age 80, he has slowed down quite a bit.

[Scott]

Very glad to hear that he is still around, He is a wonderful man whom I have great respect for as a painter and a friend.

[Scott]

Dwight I have some concerns about the Knox county police department. I lived in Knoxville about 9 years ago and it seems that the murder rate and gun violence has gone up disproportionately to the rest of the country. Can you tell me how Knox county is stepping up to handle this?

My immediate family still lives in Knox county.

[Dwight Van de Vate]

Scott- The Sheriff's Department is a constitutional office, completely independent of the Mayor's Office. If anyone in your family has a particular concern they need help with, there are some good people there they should contact. Chief Chamberlain and Chief Waggoner in particular are excellent police officers and administrators.

[CubeDoctor]

Dwight,

Are the tax revenues going to be what your office projected at budget time?

[Dwight Van de Vate]

The county's Chief Financial Officer, John Troyer, remains cautiously optimistic that revenues will, at the end of the day, be consistent with budget projections. He is now submitting periodic updates to County Commission. I will see if these updates can be posted on knoxcounty.org. People can review the numbers and judge for themselves.

Folks with a legitimate interest in the county's financial health will watch the trends over time as they formulate their opinions; folks with an agenda will identify some random period with a dip in revenues and then sound the alarm that the sky is falling.

[Mykhailo]

Hey Binderguy. You ought to post in the other forum (http://funhouserock.com/funhouse/blab/forumdisplay.php?f=5). This forum hardly gets used -- it was set up when KnoxBlab first started as an unsuccessful attempt to get Nine to shut up.

[CubeDoctor]

The county's Chief Financial Officer, John Troyer, remains cautiously optimistic that revenues will, at the end of the day, be consistent with budget projections. He is now submitting periodic updates to County Commission. I will see if these updates can be posted on knoxcounty.org. People can review the numbers and judge for themselves.

Folks with a legitimate interest in the county's financial health will watch the trends over time as they formulate their opinions; folks with an agenda will identify some random period with a dip in revenues and then sound the alarm that the sky is falling.
Dwight,

The reason I ask is because of this period we are in, which has outlived a "random" event. With home values falling, employment falling, and individual spending falling, I would assume the sky is getting a little loose.

This is not good when we are running on a tight budget.

If we are going to end up at the end of the day short, do you guys have contingency plans on where to cut back other than the hiring freeze?

A good boy scout is always prepared.

[CubeDoctor]

December 31st is the deadline for Knox County to file it's annual audited financial statements with the State Comptroller for the year ended 6-30-2008.

Do you know yet what the balance of excess revenue is over expenses?

Surely half way into this years budget Mr. Troyer knows how we did last year.

[Scott]

I would like to request that y'all play behave like gentlemen (not that we're not) with Mr Van De Vate his father is a gentleman and until proven otherwise his son deserves some respect.