Hamilton County commissioners have agreed to a smaller increase in their annual travel budget than originally proposed, according to a statement issued by Commission Chair Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah.
This means that, if the county’s more than $1 billion budget being proposed for 2026 is passed by the commission in a few weeks, each commissioner is set to receive an annual travel budget of $17,500, which is a $2,500 increase from the prior year.
During a budget hearing last week, Commissioner Gene-o Shipley, R-Soddy-Daisy, asked why the commission’s discretionary money request had been cut. It was originally proposed that last year’s travel allocation of $15,000 each would increase in the 2026 budget by $5,000, to provide a $20,000 annual allocation for commissioners.
“Why was our ask, what we thought it might be, cut?” Shipley asked.
When the budgets came out last week, Eversole said a couple of commissioners called him and asked why the increase was so high.
“They wanted more, but thought it was too large of a jump, and so I made the decision on Friday that, you know, maybe we need to pull back,” he said from the dais. “Let’s take smaller increment in jumps.
“But ultimately it’s your decision,” he told the other people on the 11-member commission.
Unused travel funds have been used to make grants to community groups and meet other needs.
“It doesn’t do anything for us personally,” Shipley said. “It does help youth organizations. Not just sports, it helps schools. It helps our teachers.”
“I agree,” Eversole said.
“It helps fire departments, wherever we want to put it,” Shipley went on from the dais.
Shipley said he wanted to see the discretionary money increase stay at $5,000.
“But let everybody else make their call,” he told the group.
Eversole suggested commissioners inform Lee Brouner, the county’s finance manager, if they wanted the proposed $17,500 travel budget per commissioner to grow to $20,000.
“Lee, if you get six phone calls, just take it back to $5,000,” Eversole said. “I will leave it to the will of the commission.”
Commissioner Warren Mackey, D-Lake Vista, said that the lack of funds meant that commissioners weren’t always able to use opportunities to benefit constituents.
“It’s kind of bad and embarrassing to not be able to attend conferences like the National County Commission Association Conference,” Mackey said. “And at these meetings, we get a lot of ideas that we can bring home.”
Eversole said during the same meeting that there had been no change to the commission’s travel fund in the current year.
“I think the purpose of this is give-and-take during the budget season,” Eversole said.
Commissioners discussed the funding in the first of two additional budget hearings that were called by Eversole after Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp proposed his budget for 2026. At the hearing, commissioners said they would not formally vote on the travel allocations but asked the county’s finance manager to adjust the increase if at least six commissioners reached out to the county’s finance staff to support the move.
“There were not enough to change the increase back to $20,000,” he said.
Eversole said he was not sure what each commissioner wanted, when asked if he knew which commissioners supported the higher increase versus the lower increase.
The next budget hearing is set for June 11.
Contact Joan McClane at jmcclane@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601.