County Commissioner Marty Haynes on Thursday called for public meetings on the subject of the commissioners continuing to have $100,000 each in discretionary money.
He said he had already been meeting with Hixson leaders on the topic.
Commissioner Haynes was one of three commissioners who supported a move by County Mayor Jim Coppinger to remove $900,000 in discretionary funds from the county budget. He was joined by Greg Beck and Joe Graham.
However, the other six commissioners (Chester Bankston, Jim Fields, Randy Fairbanks, Warren Mackey, Sabrena Turner and Tim Boyd) took $900,000 from the county's rainy day fund to keep the practice going.
County Mayor Coppinger vetoed the budget containing the $900,000. However, the six commissioners who supported the discretionary fund continuation voted to override his veto.
Commissioner Haynes said, "Consistently, the good stewardship of the taxpayers' hard-earned money has been my priority as an elected later in Hamilton County. For two weeks, I've read every single email and text, taking phone calls, and spent as much time as needed speaking with voters of District 3. With only one exception, there has been consistent support of the belief that this money should not be spent outside the normal process for Hamilton County government spending that involves the committees and public discussion."
He said, "There are true needs in our neighborhoods. The concern is not whether district-specific requests are valid. Instead, there's concern that we've removed almost $1 million from the fund that gives us the high credit scores to attract large employers, such as Volkswagen, to spend outside a balanced budget."
He said County Mayor Coppinger and the commission "have disagreed over making the $900,000 fund a spending priority for the county. Mayor Coppinger presented a balanced budget with no tax increase that excluded the fund for nameless projects which was amended. The single amendment took $900,000 from the county's reserve or rainy day fund and returned it to the budget.
"It's clear that the existing discretionary fund process is not supported. The consensus of the Hixson group was to have area public discussions over the next few weeks. Based on those meetings, we'll move forward in District 3 to likely leave the money unspent or, if spent at all, develop an application process that is open and consistent."
He said he will announce public discussion meeting places, dates, and times within the next few weeks.