County mayor scores with reset veto button

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger vetoes the county's amended budget after commissioners reinstated their discretionary funds last week.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger vetoes the county's amended budget after commissioners reinstated their discretionary funds last week.

It isn't often that politics rises to a "veto" news conference locally.

But when six of nine county commissioners pulled $900,000 from the county's rainy day fund in a last-minute move to keep special projects funds for themselves, County Mayor Jim Coppinger decided to hit the reset button.

In a Monday news conference, he vetoed the 2016 budget that commissioners had amended to preserve their yearly $100,000-each spending purse.

"I firmly believe it is fiscally irresponsible," Coppinger said of the budget amendment motioned by Chester Bankston and seconded by Tim Boyd. Commissioners Warren Mackey, Sabrena Smedley and Chairman Jim Fields supported it.

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County mayor vetoes budget, says commission decision 'fiscally irresponsible'

photo Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger vetoes the county's amended budget after commissioners reinstated their discretionary funds last week.

"There were millions, billions of dollars that were requested (during budget hearings) that we cut - from public safety, public education, public works, emergency services and others - in order to balance this budget without a tax increase. And this $900,000 in spending from the commissioners funds was cut, too. We did so because we did not have the revenues to support it," Coppinger said.

Yet, apparently six of the nine commissioners thought their own needs were special.

The three courageous commissioners who didn't vote to give themselves what many (and this page) have equated to personal "slush funds" for vote currying were Democrat Greg Beck and Republicans Marty Haynes and Joe Graham. Beck said after the vote that he would not pull from the fund balance when the commission wasn't including an early retirement plan for sheriff's deputies. Haynes said when commissioners have worthwhile projects in their districts they should bring them before the commission and let them stand on their merits. Graham said he had been very pleased with the budget without the commissioners' discretionary funds amendment. Graham was the only commissioner to vote no on both the amendment and the amended budget. On Monday, he said he supports Coppinger's veto.

Coppinger, in making his veto, stressed that the only thing commissioners had amended - despite controversies over education and public safety needs - was "money for themselves," money they have traditionally doled out in their districts to school boosters groups for uniforms or playgrounds or similar things.

That's not to say those aren't worthy needs, but the so-called "special projects" often get the commissioners's names on plaques or school signs and group newsletters. In other words, these are things that bring them name recognition - and votes. Hamilton County is the only place in the state that has commissioners discretionary spending funds larger than $5,000 a year, and good government groups have long criticized the discretionary funds as political pork spending.

What Coppinger's veto will bring now is up to commissioners. The mayor says commissioners have 20 days to override his veto or let it stand and vote again on the unamended budget.

"We'll go back to work," Coppinger said, then added: "I hope everybody's mature enough to go back to work and continue to move this county forward."

We hope so, but somehow that seems unlikely.

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