CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Ed Elkins is warning fellow Bradley County commissioners that capital projects fund balances are getting too low and that will lead to unintended consequences.
Finance Committee Chairwoman Connie Wilson disagreed.
Capital projects money should be spent on long-term needs, equipment or construction that lasts 15 years or more, Elkins said Monday evening at a commission work session. Instead, he said, recent county budgets have relied on the fund for more short-term and recurring needs, such as data processing.
He said capital projects money has been used for items that should be in departments’ annual budgets.
“In my opinion we are doing the same thing Washington has been doing for several years. People are up in arms about that. We’ve spent ourselves into a lot of debt that has not been funded,” Elkins said. “I think we are continuing to do the same thing here in Bradley County.”