Horse trail funding sparks fuss about joint city/county projects

Chattanooga City Council member Moses Freeman
Chattanooga City Council member Moses Freeman

A discussion over whether to fund horse trails in the Enterprise South Nature Park ended up in a full-scale rant by several Chattanooga City Council members against the Hamilton County Commission this week, with some council members arguing that city taxpayers do not get fair value for the taxes they pay to the county.

At issue is $115,000 that is the city's share of the funds to build horse trails in the northern part of the nature park. The city and county agreed to split their share of the $460,000 it will cost to fund the project. Some $230,000 of the cost will be paid by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, while the city and county will split the remaining $230,000.

The city put its share of the funds in its capital budget for 2015, which the council approved. But several council members Tuesday questioned whether the horse trails were a good use of taxpayers' money.

"Why spend money on a trail most city people won't use that much?" Councilman Russell Gilbert asked. Councilman Moses Freeman asked city attorney Wade Hinton what the process would be to amend the city budget to remove the funds. Mayor Andy Berke's chief of staff, Stacy Richardson, countered that the city had made a commitment to the project, which is important to the county, and that if the city backed out now, there might be consequences for joint city-county projects in the future.

Councilman Chip Henderson agreed, saying that while "no one is more disgusted about this project than me," there was a good-faith understanding by county officials that the city would approve the project. Councilman Ken Smith pointed out that the county pays part of the cost of the Riverwalk trail in downtown Chattanooga. There seemed to be agreement that reneging on a done deal was a bad idea.

But Councilman Larry Grohn then sent the discussion in a different direction by asking his fellow council members if they remembered instances when the county had reneged on apparent agreements with the city.

Freeman brought up a plan to move the police firing range from Moccasin Bend that had appeared to be approved, he said, until the county backed out at the last minute. He also mentioned a proposed Early Childhood Development Center in a county building that had appeared to be approved only to fall through, he said, when the county reneged.

"It seems that being the good guy subjects us to getting sand kicked in our face, and now we're getting horse manure shoved in our face," Freeman added, drawing smiles from several fellow commissioners. "I don't know how they got elected over there," he said, referring to the county commissioners, "maybe they lied to people like they lied to us."

Councilman Jerry Mitchell then questioned what input city officials have had on decisions involving the nature park, noting that the city and county had an agreement to split maintenance costs on the facility, but the city apparently had no one involved making decisions about the park.

Hinton said his opinion was that if the city had a valid contract with the county to fund the nature park, it would not be legal for the city to back out now, but he was not sure that a contract was involved.

Councilman Chris Anderson asked whether city taxpayers are getting their share of county tax payments. "Every square inch of the City of Chattanooga also pays the county property taxes," he said, but the only services the county appears to provide are schools, the sheriff's office and jails. He suggested that the council invite the County Commission to a lunch meeting to discuss the issue.

Gilbert said his understanding is that city tax funds provide 53 percent of the county's budget, and he asked, "What are they doing for us?"

In the end, Hinton was asked to answer several questions for the council before they decide on any further action to take, either on the horse trails or on arguing with the county commissioners over sharing tax revenue. Hinton was asked to determine if the deal for the horse trails is a binding contract, whether the agreements on the firing range and early childhood development center were also contractual, to outline the actual funds spent on maintenance of joint city-county projects, and to determine if there are any other joint projects where the city may be required to spend money with no input on the decision-making process.

Hours after the afternoon debate, two local equestrian advocates made their case at Tuesday evening's full council meeting, arguing that the horse trails would be used by local children with disabilities and provide an economic benefit for the city. Adam Pressley of Soddy-Daisy, adult leader for the 4-H horse group in Hamilton County, said he works with disabled children in the city and now must transport them as far as Cookeville to provide an opportunity to ride horses.

"These trails will mean something to people locally, but to city kids as well," Pressley said.

Joanne Mitchell, of Sweetwater, said she and her husband had spent more than 100 hours determining the best locations for horse trails in the nature park, and she said horse trails were part of the original master plan for the park.

Enterprise South Nature Park includes 2,800 wooded acres off Interstate 75 at the Volkswagen Drive exit that previously were part of the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant, which for many years manufactured TNT explosives. The park features both walking and biking trails, plus several reserved for mountain bikers and a handicap accessible trail.

Contact staff writer Steve Johnson at sjohnson@timesfreepress.com, 423-757-6673, on Twitter @stevejohnson TFP and on Facebook at stevejohnsonTFP.

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