Hamilton County’s purchase of McDonald Farm again has drawn the ire of a conservative watchdog group, which said taxpayers are on the hook for more costs at the site.
The Beacon Center in Nashville, which two years ago criticized the $16 million acquisition of the 2,170-acre tract for an industrial park and recreation space, cited plans to spend $100,000 for a consultant to review a sinkhole at a dam on the property.
“The same commission that made this terrible deal for taxpayers now has to spend at least another $100,000 to review a sinkhole on this property, and that’s cheap compared to what it will cost to fix the problem,” the Beacon Center said in its annual Pork Report.
Because the county owns the property, it’s required to take action to address structural issues with the dam, which was constructed years ago by the McDonald family and now retains a small pond, officials said earlier.
Officials had earlier estimated building a new berm downstream could cost about $1 million. Eliminating the pond entirely could cost somewhere from $500,000 to $1 million, they said. The dam is low-hazard, meaning a breach wouldn’t cause catastrophic issues downstream beyond ecological damage.
The Beacon Center said the McDonald Farm deal was “bad from the start and, unfortunately, just keeps getting worse as our concerns in the 2021 Pork Report have come to fruition.”
(READ MORE: Hamilton County seeks to buy McDonald Farm for industrial development)
Mark Cunningham, Beacon’s vice president of strategy and communication, said the report “continuously shows the risk to taxpayers for these wasteful projects, including correctly predicting the additional taxpayer expense from Hamilton County taxpayers for the purchase of the McDonald Farm.”
“Hopefully, this year’s report will make politicians and bureaucrats think long and hard about how they spend tax dollars in the future,” he said in a statement.
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp said in an interview Wednesday he supports the Beacon Center’s efforts to advocate for taxpayers and to hold public figures accountable.
But, he said, he’s excited about the future of McDonald Farm, and he cited the plans for recreation at the site, including the recent county fair.
“It’s an appropriate use of taxpayer money,” Wamp said.
(READ MORE: Red Bank commissioners approve tax rate increase of 52%)
The site was purchased while former county Mayor Jim Coppinger was in office.
Earlier this week, a Hamilton County official said it’s seeking to rezone a large portion of McDonald Farm to manufacturing to help woo millions in state money for roads, water and wastewater systems to prep for new business.
Other examples of “wasteful spending” across the state cited by the 2023 Beacon Center report include:
— The state’s $200 million to help the Tennessee Performing Arts Center relocate.
— Nearly $5 million given by the state and Franklin and Williamson counties to benefit California burger chain In-N-Out’s move to Tennessee.
— Large property tax increases in counties such as Rutherford, Greene and Lincoln, as well as the city of Red Bank.
— Memphis giving out more than $1 million for the third season of “Young Rock” to be filmed in the city. The fictional TV show about former professional wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson was canceled by NBC this year after three seasons.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.