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The Carter County Budget Committee voted unanimously during Wednesday’s budget meeting to send a proposal for a flat $2,000 raise for full time and $1,000 for part time county employees to the full commission.

Commission will consider the request during the 6 p.m. meeting on June 20.

“We asked every department to be frugal so we could possibly give these raises,” said District 2 Commissioner Julie Guinn.

County Finance Director Carolyn Watson echoed Guinn’s comment. “We squeezed out every dollar we could. We asked them to be good stewards and they have made a huge effort to do that.”

Watson is working to come up with what the split will be between the county and the highway department as it will take an additional $400,000 to fund the raises.

The committee also agreed to give the Carter County Parks and Recreation an additional $30,000 above last year’s budget for a total of $111,670 for FY 2022-2023.

Previously, the Carter County Parks and Recreation had requested $1.7 million dollars with the bulk of that to be set aside to complete the Gap Creek Park project ($1.2 million) including an inclusive playground and a full-size senior softball field and concession stand.

Other money requested was for the Tweetsie Tunnel Trail ($200,000) and the creation of a Carter County Parks and Recreation Department ($175,000). Both amounts were going to be set aside in reserve.

The full commission was scheduled to have a workshop on Thursday for the commissioners to see if there were any questions on the completed budget. No vote was to be taken.