Marion County board approves airport land purchase, budget schedule

The Marion County Courthouse is located in Jasper, Tenn.
The Marion County Courthouse is located in Jasper, Tenn.
photo David Jackson

JASPER, Tenn. - Hangar space to store aircraft at the Marion County Airport is sparse.

That could change soon after the Marion County Commission agreed to buy two large tracts of land on both sides of the airport entrance off Hancock Road for $100,000.

County Mayor David Jackson said Marion has been awarded a grant totaling about $130,000 to purchase the property.

"The property was appraised for $87,500," he said. "They [the grant fund] will pay the appraised value plus 10 percent over that."

The grant will cover $96,250 of the cost.

The county had to pay 5 percent in matching funds to get the grant.

"We've already paid our share of the payment to the state, so we'll be cutting [the property owner] a check for $100,000, and the state will reimburse us for the 95 percent," Jackson said.

At its November meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve the purchase.

Commissioner Matt Blansett, chairman of the board's airport committee, said the airport is in desperate need of more hangars, and the land could be used for that in the future.

"We've run out of space out there, and we've got a waiting list that's pretty lengthy of people wanting hangars," he said.

The purchase would leave about $30,000 left in grant funds, and Jackson said he was going to speak with state officials to see if the remaining money can be used to further clean up the property.

He said the current property owner paid to have the land clear-cut before the deal was made.

"If we had bought it with the trees still there, we would've had to pay for a bat study," Jackson said. "It's better when the owner gets the property cleared and us not have to do that."

In other business, the state Legislature passed a law recently that set a schedule for when county governments must start budget procedures.

Jackson said the law requires that those processes begin by Feb. 1, but it allows counties to adopt a "local schedule" instead.

"That's just really too early to start," he said. "That's barely seven months into the [current] budget."

The board voted unanimously to adopt its own schedule, which starts on March 15.

By May 15, the board's budget committee would vote on the various county offices' proposed budgets.

If the committee does not accept a budget, Jackson said that agency would have 10 days to resubmit a proposal.

Marion's school system would have to submit its budget no later than June 1, and the modified schedule states the county will pass its next budget by June 26.

The budget schedule could be revised on a yearly basis, Jackson said.

"To be realistic, if the county goes through [property] reappraisal next year, there's no way we could follow either one of these budget schedules," he said. "It took us til July this year to get our budget passed because we were still waiting on the numbers and stuff to come in."

Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.

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