Hamilton County commissioners blow through $95,000 in 12 minutes

Commissioner Joe Graham speaks during a Hamilton County Commission meeting on March 19, 2014, at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Chattanooga.
Commissioner Joe Graham speaks during a Hamilton County Commission meeting on March 19, 2014, at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Chattanooga.

Tuesday’s discretionary spending by district

District 1 Randy Fairbanks$11,350 to assist the city of Soddy-Daisy with repairs at Veterans Memorial Park; $6,400 to the Bakewell Community CenterDistrict 2 Jim Fields$30,000 to Waldens Ridge Emergency ServicesDistrict 4 Warren Mackey$10,000 to Orange Grove Center; $3,000 to the Highland Park Neighborhood Association; $6,000 to the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park; $2,500 to the Southeast Tennessee Health Consortium; $3,000 to Stop the Madness National; $1,000 to Churchville Neighborhood Association; $1,500 to the Community Foundation of GreaterChattanoogaDistrict 5 Greg Beck$1,000 to the Harrison Recreational Booster ClubDistrict 7 Sabrena Smedley$10,000 to Orange Grove CenterDistrict 9 Chester Bankston$10,000 to Orange Grove Center

It took less than 12 minutes during Tuesday's meeting for Hamilton County's commissioners to spend $95,750 in discretionary money.

Hardly any discussion took place among commissioners as they voted to approve each other's spending of money they allocated for pet projects. They took the money from the county's savings fund earlier this year. Commissioners voted Tuesday to spend thousands of dollars on repairing parks, supporting nonprofits, helping a booster club and providing more funding for Orange Grove Center, whose clients are people with intellectual disabilities.

Historically, each of the nine county commissioners have been given $100,000 in taxpayer money to spend annually on projects in their districts. But Mayor Jim Coppinger's proposed budget for this fiscal year did not include the discretionary funds, saying there was not revenue to support it.

Commissioners voted to pull the nearly $1 million from the county's savings to reinstate the fund and overrode Coppinger's veto of the move in a 6-3 vote.

photo Commissioner Joe Graham speaks during a Hamilton County Commission meeting on March 19, 2014, at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Chattanooga.

In the months since, commissioners have been doling out the funds across their districts, with the exception of Commissioners Joe Graham and Marty Haynes, who returned their money to the county's savings last month. They said their constituents wished for the money to remain in the county's rainy-day fund.

Tuesday's discretionary spending was divided into every district but Graham's, Haynes' and Tim Boyd's, who was not present at the meeting.

The votes on the 13 resolutions were unanimous, except for Graham, who voted against all three resolutions to allocate these funds to Orange Grove Center.

Graham said his vote against the $30,000 to Orange Grove had nothing to do with the center.

"They are fabulous," Graham stated. "I hope and pray they can raise all the money they need; I just don't usually vote for 501(c)(3) discretionary spending like this."

Commissioner Warren Mackey defended the spending, adding that people from every district across the county and their families benefit from Orange Grove.

"I think we ought to do everything we can to promote that," Mackey said.

Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.

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