This is good news from Mayor Coppinger. This allows Walden and other municipalities to have a voice by working collectively with the county on a viable solution. This joint effort will benefit both the citizens from the county and the municipalities.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said in a news release last week that he is working with local cities on allocation of money shared from state to local governments, and that the issue won’t arise in this year’s General Assembly session.
Coppinger stirred up a hornet’s nest last year when he asked local state lawmakers to help the county get a share from a pot of state sales tax money that’s doled out to municipal governments.
Officials in several small cities – including Signal Mountain and Walden – immediately protested their budgets couldn’t stand the strain, and some agreed to form a coalition and hire a lobbyist. Signal and Walden decided to wait it out.
In December, Coppinger met with some local mayors and city managers and state Sen. Bo Watson and agreed to join forces to work toward “long-term corrections to the state revenue flowing back to cities and counties,” the release stated.