The Decherd Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the second reading of the 2027 fiscal year budget on June 11 in a 2-1 vote with Glenn Summers in opposition.

The budget totals $3.7 million and does not include a property-tax increase.

Alderman Shuler Hopkins was absent from the meeting. He has resigned from his position due to accepting a job in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is moving away from the community.

Summers said he voted in opposition because of a payroll discrepancy.

“We’ve got a police chief and a fire chief making less than someone in the Water Department,” he said, adding that he deems that approach to the pay scale as being unfair.

Summers said the police chief and fire chief’s salaries are each set at $66,000 while the maintenance supervisor’s position is budgeted to received $83,000.

Water Superintendent Dale Brown, who manages the Water Department, said the maintenance supervisor’s position involves qualification levels that warrant the compensation the board had approved.

Mayor Mary Nell Hess said Maintenance Supervisor Travis Stephens has grade 3 water-treatment operator and grade 2 wastewater-plant operator licenses, and the position needs to be properly compensated to remain competitive with other communities that pay at levels which are higher than what Decherd has been paying.