Roy Exum
The great majority of people who live in Hamilton County have a very simple way they budget. It’s called payday-to- payday. They hope desperately to have a surplus, however small, to tuck away in a rainy-day savings account when the next check comes. For most, it is a constant challenge where – believe this -- there is never going to be a free lunch.
This Wednesday, the Hamilton County Commission will take to task Mayor Jim Coppinger’s proposed 2016 budget and some, like a sulking teenager who wants his single mom to buy him a car, have already said they won’t support it.
Why? Hamilton County commissioners have gotten a $100,000 “gift” in past years from a ridiculous fund that lets each of the nine use the money to buy votes, curry favoritism, or pay back favors that smack of all that is wrong with the political system. We all know the truth and the time has come to end such an irresponsible abuse of the taxpayers’ money.
A good example of the abuse is the fact one of our duly elected commissioners used some of his stash to buy golf clubs for Brainerd High School. This poor man had obviously just fallen and hit his head! A predominately black high school, Brainerd needs golf clubs like the Ebola virus.
Not one teacher at the North Moore Road has nearly enough resource materials, copy paper, or pencils to lend but, in the meantime, we are waiting on the next Tiger Woods. Please! It is blatantly ridiculous and we, the people, no longer have the stomach for it.
That is why this year Mayor Coppinger decided “enough is enough” and did not include $900,000 in discretionary funding, much to the delight of the citizens. A Chattanooga.com poll was 81 percent against the ruse and business leaders across the county – familiar with complex budgets – said the $900,000 expense is ludicrous but that Coppinger’s “windfall” will enable Hamilton County to do two things that it wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
Get this, according to keen sources who have combed the 2016 proposal, nine-tenths of a million will enable the county to fully fund the request from the Humane Society, our animal shelter that is literally falling down, and – much bigger in full scope – provide a two percent raise, or more in low-paying salaries, to all 1,786 county employees.
The raises are fair. For employees making the median salary of $37,000 or more, they’ll get a two-percent push. Any employee making less will get a $750 increase in yearly salary because, let’s face it, if you are making $22,000 a two-percent raise is barely enough to help.
The raises will actually take about $1.5 million from the budget but, with the $900,000, Coppinger was able to architect a way to make the salary increase and the urgent Humane Society request workable. How many of the nine commissioners you reckon want to take on the county employees or wrestle with the emotion surrounding the county’s animal services?
I believe you could look Coppinger or any of our nine commissioners in the eye and ask if we are doing enough for education, there would be a distinct 10 “nos.” The same can be said for Erlanger, where just $1.5 million in support is the worst in America. You can even ask the 10 if a 2-percent raise for the employees is enough. Of course it’s not.
But the brutal fact is the county doesn’t have the money to do nearly all the things the special interest groups or the general population would like. A tax increase would help but not in the current economy. Study history; it has been this way since the very beginning. There isn’t one city or county official in the United States who has enough funds available to meet all the requests of the people. There also shouldn’t be a one who doesn’t try to stretch the citizens’ dollar to meet as many needs as we have today.
The discretionary funding is the county’s biggest embarrassment when compared to other Tennessee counties. In Knoxville each commissioner gets $5,000 in discretionary spending but the word is that is short-lived. Good riddance. Nashville, Memphis, Johnson City and all other governments in the state have no such fund because, quite simply, it is just plain wrong.
What happens in other cities? Any commissioner can request funding for anything – even golf clubs – but it must be approved by the majority. That’s the way democracy works and that’s the way it should in Hamilton County from this day forth. Playing favorites and buying votes is wrong in any county, bowling alley or deacons’ meeting.
Most people are unaware that each commissioner in Hamilton County receives a $12,500 allocation for “travel” each year. That money can be used, at the commissioner’s request, for almost any valid reason. Further, if the travel allocation is not used entirely, it accrues into the next year.
Are you kidding me -- $12.5 grand each year could buy reams of copy paper for the schools in some of the commissioners’ districts, right? Vaccinations for the inner city? Or look at how many Titleist golf balls Brainerd kids could hit instead of each other. The possibilities for the travel slush fund are endless.
Mayor Coppinger, if the truth be told, should be given a plaque by the Board of Education. If this year’s budget holds true, it will mean he’s the primary reason Hamilton County has invested $100 million in school buildings in the past four years. You didn’t know that, did you?
That said, his crowning moment will likely be that he, a former commissioner – mind you – has pulled the plug on the biggest vote-buying scheme in the state. If you got a raise or are a lost cat, don’t forget that. It means $900,000 every year has finally been returned to “all of us.”
royexum@aol.com