Hamilton County commissioners to consider school needs

Commissioner Tim Boyd
Commissioner Tim Boyd
photo Commissioner Sabrena Smedley

If you go

Hamilton County Commission: Combined finance and education committees meetWhen: Wednesday at 8 a.m.Where: Hamilton County Commission office, Suite 401/Hamilton County Courthouse, 625 Georgia Ave.More information: Contact the Hamilton County Commission office at 423-209-7200 or visit www.hamiltontn.gov/commission.

Hamilton County commissioners Tim Boyd and Sabrena Smedley have called a special public meeting for Wednesday morning, but they don't have much say about it.

The event is a joint meeting of the Hamilton County Commission's finance and education committees, led by Boyd and Smedley, respectively.

"We want to make all of the information available at the same time," Boyd said shortly after they made the announcement a few days ago. "We want to give consistent answers."

Whatever they have up their sleeves, it follows on the heels of a recent joint meeting between county commissioners and the school board. In that meeting, intended as a strategic planning session to determine facility and funding needs for Hamilton County Schools, the two groups spent most of their time arguing over the past and what the board's future priorities should be. They also debated which body should cough up the money to tackle more than $200 million in deferred school maintenance.

At one point during the meeting, school board member Tiffanie Robinson voiced frustration over the wrangling, calling for real collaborative efforts.

"I'm here for four years and I'm not going to keep having these discussions," Robinson said.

Smedley said Boyd made the call to have the upcoming finance/education committees session. While she was not aware of a specific agenda for the meeting, Boyd recently indicated he has been looking at ways to make budget cuts to help the school system, she said.

"If we're at the table looking for solutions, I'm willing to meet," Smedley said.

Boyd recently took aim at the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau's spending, calling for trimming $2 million from the hotel tax revenue stream that will likely put $7.8 million into the agency's coffers this year. In fiscal 2016, the bureau received $6.5 million to promote the city.

With an extra $2 million in hand, the county could pay debt service on $20 million in capital bonds, which could "go a long way" to paying for a new school, Boyd said after recent commission meeting.

"Maybe we can have a great CVB without them having all of the hotel-motel tax," Boyd has said.

In addition to whatever funding ideas Boyd might champion Wednesday, commissioners have potentially targeted $4.5 million or more for use on school facilities.

About $750,000 remains of a $900,000 pot of capital bond money that Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger made available to the commission for this budget year. Commissioner Greg Martin has suggested combining that money with the estimated $3.8 million the school system will make on the sale of the former East Brainerd Elementary property as a way to pay for needed roof repairs.

Looking farther ahead, Smedley said she and school board Chairman Steve Highlander wanted the commission and school board to hold another joint meeting in the next four to six weeks. They shared a lot of ideas last time around and they ought to meet more often, she said.

"I'm hopeful," Smedley said of the progress the two bodies could achieve together.

Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.

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