The idea of bringing back a $900,000 pool of taxpayer funds for Hamilton County Commission members to hand out in their respective districts unexpectedly resurfaced at a commission meeting Tuesday.
Commissioner Tim Boyd, R-East Brainerd, reignited the issue when talking about a resolution to give the East Ridge Fire Department more than $15,000 for new equipment, which would drain the remainder of the $100,000 he was assigned for distribution years ago.
“This is my departing discretionary fund to the East Ridge Fire Department,” said Boyd, who is not running for re-election. “My wish is that the discretionary fund would come back. I think they’re well deserved and well used within different districts, and perhaps in the next term under the new mayor that consideration will be given to allow such funding for individual projects within the respective commissioners’ districts.”
Beginning in the early 2000s, the commission allotted $100,000 to be spent by each of the nine commissioners per year, which was largely used to benefit local nonprofit groups.
After discussion of whether the money was going to benefit the community – or the individual commissioner’s political standing – the fund was first removed in 2014 by Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger.
After Commissioner Warren Mackey, D-Lake Vista, seconded Boyd’s praise of the funds and said he would “do everything” he can to bring them back, Coppinger said he stood by the decision to get rid of them years ago.
“To all of you fiscal conservatives, and I’ve heard every one of you say that at one time or another – it’s a popular thing to say you’re fiscally conservative – you’re not fiscally conservative if you’re for discretionary money,” said Coppinger, who is not seeking re-election.
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The mayor noted that the funds have been used for important projects in the past, but they have also been misused. He went on to say that taxpayer money should be used to benefit the entire county, not just one district.
In addition, upon noting that he, not the commission, is the fiscal agent of the county, Coppinger added that getting rid of the funds allowed the money to go toward larger projects rather than “nickel and dime” expenditures on constituents that may have ramped up around election time.
“Two-thousand dollars would go a long way in my district,” Mackey said. “People in my district are poor; they’re needy. They’ve been out of work, as there are people in every one of your districts in the same situation.”
Mackey added that “the well has been poisoned unfairly” when it comes to the ability to use funds specifically in one’s district.
Both Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, and commission chair Sabrena Smedley, R-Ooltewah, said they were surprised the Tuesday meeting turned to a discussion about the discretionary funds.
“We haven’t had those in a long time, so I’m surprised we’re having a lengthy discussion about it,” said Smedley, one of several candidates running to replace Coppinger. “There was an attempt to bring it back, and several of us didn’t support that.”
Although Coppinger eliminated the funds in 2014, commissioners subsequently appropriated $900,000 from reserves and restored the funds, then overrode Coppinger’s veto, drawing criticism from the public and ultimately letting the fund go in 2015.
Further attempts by Boyd and other commissioners to reinstate the discretionary funds have failed.
The closest the commission has come to reinstating the funds came in 2018, when another attempt by Boyd failed with a 4-4 vote among the eight present commissioners at a meeting.
Contact Logan Hullinger at lhullinger@timesfreepress.com or 814-319-5158. Follow him on Twitter @LoganHullinger.