Commissioner Tim Boyd
County Commissioner Tim Boyd is proposing that a portion of the hotel/motel tax proceeds be placed in a Redevelopment Fund that is completely controlled by the commission.
He said money going to the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau would be capped at $8.5 million with up to $2 million per year eventually going to the commission for use in tourism-related capital projects.
Commissioner Boyd recommended that the commission's little-used Health and Human Services Committee take proposals for worthy projects and make recommendations to the nine-member commission, which would have the final say-so.
He said the fund might be used for a range of projects, including "a new roof for the Hunter Museum," the Ed Johnson Memorial, the Fallen Five Memorial, and "a press box or a new concession area at a county park."
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said it might be time to examine if the continually rising fund should all go to the Visitors Bureau for tourism promotion, but he urged caution on the Boyd idea.
He said when the county had a Tourist Development Agency overseeing use of a portion of the hotel/motel tax that it devolved into "little pet projects that really did not help tourism." The TDA was dissolved in 2006 and all the county portion of the tax began going to the CVB.
County Mayor Coppinger said the commission could be overrun with funding requests, noting there are 1,600 local non-profits - "each with 45-minute presentations." He said, "There are a lot of great projects out there."
Noting that the executive branch would be left out of the process, he said, "Where's the check and balance in that?"
He also said it could become a process of "you vote for mine and I'll vote for yours" and "hard feelings" over projects that can't manage five votes. He said, "This is not what the public expects from us."
The commission is set to vote next Wednesday on the proposal. Commissioner Boyd said, "I hope I get a second and the commission approves it."
The Boyd proposal came just after former Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said the city and county should take $1 million each from the hotel/motel tax per year for operation of a new homeless shelter.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger