DAYTON, Tenn. — Despite estimates that Rhea County’s proposed budget was $600,000 out of whack, County Commissioners only needed $350,000 to knock it into shape.

On Tuesday, commissioners cobbled together a spending guide for a new budget that county officials said meets state requirements.

A week ago, County Executive Billy Ray Patton estimated $600,000 would be needed to reconstruct the 2008-09 budget.

About $350,000 was transferred from the county’s solid waste reserve, with $250,000 going to the school transportation budget and $100,000 to the solid waste budget surplus account.

In addition, commissioners deleted about $257,000 from the debt service account, money that had improperly been added to pay for portable classrooms for county schools. The funds to cover that payment also had been entered in the school’s budget.

Corrections also included adjusting property tax estimates to match records in the county assessor’s office, entering items in the correct categories and eliminating double entries.

Commissioners praised interim Finance Director Linda Eddington for working overtime during the past week with a representative of the County Technical Advisory Service to rebuild the budget. Ms. Eddington said officials in the state comptroller’s office assured her that, if the commission made the corrections, the budget would be approved.

Commission Vice Chairman Johnny Mincy said the work “gives us probably the most accurate budget we’ve had in a while.”

Commissioners voted to adopt the revised budget and re-approved the property tax rate of $2 per hundred dollars of assessed value, a rate that had been approved in earlier meetings. But they acknowledged that the budget for the next fiscal year would be even more challenging.

Commissioner Bill Hollin told members of the budget committee that “we need to start looking for funds for next year.” He suggested revisiting the idea of a wheel tax, which is based upon the number of wheels on a motorist’s vehicle.

“Fifty-six of 95 counties in Tennessee have a wheel tax,” he said. “I think we ought to carry that directly to Nashville and not let it go to a vote of the people.”

Mr. Patton responded, “I think that would be the worst mistake we could make.” Voters several years ago defeated a wheel tax referendum for the county.

Commissioner Terry Broyles asked for a report on collection of fines and fees through the circuit court clerk’s office. Mr. Patton responded that a firm has been hired to begin collecting the money, totaling some $1.5 million, but said he has not yet seen a report on collections.

Mr. Mincy also reported to the budget committee that he has been asked by the Rhea County Board of Education to secure a written commitment from the commission that future TVA impact funds would be directed to the schools.

Committee members responded that the commission had agreed to give the money to the school board the first year but had made no commitment beyond that.

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