Reminder: August 31st Budget Deadline is Quickly Approaching

As a reminder, county budgets must be approved on or before August 31, unless an extension is approved by the Comptroller’s Office of State and Local Finance. The appropriation and tax levy resolutions the CLB adopts and supporting documentation for the budget must be submitted to OSLF for approval. State law requires a complete and proper budget be submitted immediately upon adoption. Also, state law requires a county school system to submit a complete and certified copy of its entire budget to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDE) within 30 days after the beginning of the fiscal year.

The August 31st deadline applies to counties operating under the General Law, the County Budgeting Law of 1957, the County Financial Management System of 1981 and the Local Option Budgeting Law of 1993. There is, however, an exemption for Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton counties.

With the passage of Public Chapter 1080 in 2016, most counties now have the option to adopt their own budget timeline or follow the applicable statutory timeline.  It is important all interested parties in the county are aware of the applicable timeline. An example of a budgeting calendar which could be adopted locally can be found here: Sample Budget Calendar

For those counties that have not yet passed a budget for fiscal year 2022-2023, please be aware of the budget deadline effective since 2016. Under Public Chapter 1080, effective May 20, 2016, if the county legislative body and the county school board fail to agree on an education budget by August 31st, then an education budget will be set by operation of law. The budget which will go into effect by law will be equal to the minimum budget required to comply with the local match and maintenance of effort provisions of the BEP.

If this occurs in a county for three consecutive years, the education budget for the third year will include a three percent increase in the required local funding amount for schools unless the LEA failed to comply with the applicable budgetary timeline.