Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR)
Lynnisse Roehrich-Patrick, Executive Director

Executive Director Dr. Harry A. Green Retires After 39 Years of Service

Dr. Harry A. Green retired his post as executive director on April 13, 2012, after 39 years of service to the State of Tennessee. Under Dr. Green´s leadership, the Commission played an important role in developing many of the key issues that have shaped state and local government in Tennessee over the last several decades. One of his key accomplishments was the development of the fiscal capacity formula adopted by the Tennessee State Board of Education to equalize local funding for public schools through the Basic Education Program (BEP) formula adopted as part of Tennessee´s Education Improvement Act of 1992.

Lynnisse Roehrich-Patrick, former deputy executive director and 12-year TACIR staff member, has assumed the role of executive director of the Commission. Ms. Roehrich-Patrick brings extensive experience in public policy dating back to service as a legislative performance audit supervisor in Tennessee´s Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury in the mid-1980s, as Education Coordinator in Governor Ned McWherter´s budget office, and as Assistant Commissioner of Education for Finance, Accountability and Technology during Governor Don Sundquist´s Administration. Ms. Roehrich-Patrick looks forward to her new role as Executive Director of TACIR. (Press Release)

Appointment v. Election of Utility District Commissioners

TACIR has completed a staff report on proposed legislation that would change the utility district commissioner selection method from appointment by county mayor to election by customers in the Bon De Croft Utility District in White County and in all the utility districts in Lawrence County. The staff´s recommendation in the report that the proposed legislation not be passed by the Tennessee General Assembly is consistent with the findings in TACIR´s 2003 report on utility districts and with the position taken by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. The Commission received the report at the December 2011 meeting. (More)

Water Resources Regional Planning

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has released the North Central Regional Water Resources Planning Study produced by Commissioner Martineau´s Water Resources Technical Advisory Committee (WRTAC). The second of two pilot projects, this report is the result of a significant intergovernmental team effort involving multiple state and federal agencies, as well as local officials in the study area and members of the community. The study area centered on Portland, which sits on the edge of the Highland Rim, and involved both the area served by the city and adjacent areas served by other water utilities. Water sources on the Rim are small, headwater streams that have limited capacity to support growth and development. The study team´s preferred alternative, contracting with White House Utility District to purchase finished water, will improve water supply security for Portland-area residents and businesses. Moreover, compared with other alternatives, a contract with White House will be both easier to implement and more flexible. It can grow as Portland grows, through and well beyond the 2030 planning horizon. TACIR is a member of the WRTAC and supported this project by participating in the technical working group and assisting in the writing and editing of the report.(Full Report)

TVA PILOTs and the Effect of The Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative Act

The Tennessee Valley Authority has made payments in lieu of taxes of nearly $5 billion since federal fiscal year 2000 to the eight states affected by TVA power production. Of that sum, an average of 60% annually has come to the state of Tennessee and its local governments. For federal fiscal year 2012, 61.2% of TVA’s total $567.4 million PILOT or $347.3 million will be paid to Tennessee and its counties. A number of factors have the potential to affect these payments, including state legislation passed in 2009 and amended in 2010 allowing formation of electric generation and transmission cooperatives. The TACIR is charged with monitoring the effects of that legislation and recommending changes as appropriate. In discharging its duty, the Commission takes a broad look at factors affecting TVA’s payments in lieu of taxes and reports annually to the Tennessee General Assembly. Although a cooperative has been formed and is part owner with TVA of a power plant in Mississippi, there has been no effect as yet on TVA’s payments. A greater concern for the present is the potential effect of TVA’s plant modernization program, which could reduce its property ownership in Tennessee, which in turn could reduce its payments to Tennessee. TACIR’s latest report describes these issues and their potential effects. (More)

Tracking Tennessee's Economic Recovery

TACIR has partnered with the Middle Tennessee State University Business and Economic Research Center to provide an Internet site to track the state economy during the recovery from the recession that began in December 2007. The site will permit the reader to follow labor force status including employment and unemployment numbers; housing data including a housing price index and construction activity; and sales tax collections. These data are available for the state and for 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas across the state. Presented graphically, the data may also be downloaded for use at the reader’s convenience. (More)