February 02, 2026

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By Gene Senesac, Candidate – Johnson County BOCC chair

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Is your household benefitting from recent annual increases in property taxes?  

The vast majority of residents probably see very few noticeable changes in services. There’s reason for concern when looking at the ‘21-‘26 county budget trends:

• Property tax revenues – UP 35%  (some individual homeowner impact may well exceed this county total)
• Expenditures – UP 50%
• Total Budget – UP 52%

Where is the county spending your money? Among the items:

• Personnel – $440 million extra spend beyond ‘21 thru ‘26…45.8% incr/5yrs = 9.16%/yr
• Facilities – $110+ million Health Services bldg; $30+ million Corinth library

Note the full time employee count increased by 303 (7.4%) since ‘21. A 9% average annual personnel cost increase (benefits included) is eye-opening.  The county and some other Johnson County city governments propagate a continual message of needing to be ‘competitive’ in the marketplace to maintain employees and avoid high turnover. I say give us the employee turnover data at tiered wage levels to support any action taken to combat such claims. More than likely, this is but a tired and coordinated county/city message to needlessly heap large pay increases on the highest earners.  Let’s stop the pay rhetoric and monitor any legitimate issues at the lower end of the scale.

There are also various proposals being tossed around as to how best address high property taxes.

Among them are capping annual increases in appraisals and/or mill levies.  The root cause of escalating property taxes is actually excessive government spending. We must focus on eliminating the waste and exercising prudent fiscal management while maintaining essential services and planning for future growth. I’m here to get us back on track while giving taxpayers some much needed relief.

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Paid for by Gene Senesac for Johnson County Board of Commissioners Chair.

Jody Clevenger, Treasurer