Worried about waste, Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Martin of District 3 is working to tighten rules surrounding commissioners' district travel and discretionary funds.
After much debate and a failed attempt, the county did away with the former discretionary spending funds, which allocated $100,000 for each district until the practice was terminated in 2014.
Now, each commissioner gets $12,500 per year for travel expenses. Unspent monies may be used as discretionary funds and even roll over, allowing commissioners to accrue tens of thousands of dollars to use as they please, so long as they can get a majority vote.
On Wednesday, Martin introduced a resolution that will curb this practice by requiring that additional funds return to the county general fund at the end of the year, rather than allowing a commissioner to stockpile unspent money.
"Our travel expenses and our meeting services, etc. what we don't use each year would just go back, like every other constitutional office, to the general fund," Martin said, trying to align the commission with the county's "use it or lose it" philosophy. "Every other constitutional office in county government, when they don't use those particular travel funds, they go back in the general fund. I just think that would be a good thing for the county commission to do."
Martin's resolution, which will be voted on next week, comes after several commissioners made controversial donations in the summer and fall, resurfacing old concerns about the propriety of the funds and previous failed attempts to end the roll-over of funds.
"I'm working in a system that already exists and I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to help hungry kids," District 6 Commissioner David Sharpe said, defending the use of funds for non-profit donations but advocating for tighter rules. "But I introduced [an amendment] last year which would have ended the rollover. I don't want to condemn discretionary funds, but I can see how people would have a problem with it. It's definitely been misused."
While the Commission was torn on whether and how to restrict the funds in December, most commissioners stayed quiet about the resolution at Wednesday's agenda setting meeting.
District 7 Commissioner Sabrena Smedley, who may miss next week's vote, said she supports Martin's resolution whole-heartedly.
"I just want to say for the record that I very much support this resolution," Smedley said. "I do think that any unused portion of our travel money should not roll over to the following year."
The commission will vote on Feb. 5 at 9:30 a.m. during its regularly scheduled business meeting.
Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416. Follow her on Twitter @_sarahgtaylor.