City looks at nonprofit, golf funds

Heather Mullinix, Crossville Chronicle, Tenn.
·2 min read

May 4—Crossville Mayor R.J. Crawford recommended cuts to some funding requests from outside agencies.

The funds, requested by area nonprofit agencies, comes to about $114,000, though other members of the Crossville City Council questioned some of the cuts.

Crawford recommended cutting all funding for Hospice of Cumberland County, which requested $10,000.

"This is not the only hospice in town," Crawford said, while Council member Scot Shanks noted it is the only nonprofit hospice serving the community.

Crawford noted the organization had been spending funds to support a sponsorship at Cumberland County Playhouse.

"This is a great service," Crawford said. "But I feel like we need to get out of the business of people leveraging our money to support their budget."

Other appropriations in the budget are:

—Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency, $6,788

—Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program, $2,000

—TAD Drug Alliance, $2,000

—Avalon Center, $3,000

—Court-Appointed Special Advocates, $3,500

—Creative Compassion, $8,296 to cover building permits and grinder pumps for two houses

—Fair Park Senior Center, $20,000

—Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce, $30,000 from general fund and $60,000 from hotel-motel tax revenue

—Cumberland County Playhouse, $50,000 from hotel-motel tax revenue

—Downtown Crossville Inc., $10,000

—Kids on the Rise, $1,000

—Friends of the Trails, $15,000

—Veterans Honor Guard, $1,000

—Habitat for Humanity, $5,850

—Young Marines of Cumberland County, $3,240

The budget also reserves $2,500 for other requests that may be made during the year.

The budget also cuts $25,000 for sponsorship of the Women's State Open golf tournament. The council discussed the sponsorship at length last year, but the contract was found to extend through the 2022 tournament.

Also cut is funding for the Tennessee Senior Men's State Open golf tournament and the state high school Golf Capital golf tournament. It retains $8,000 for the State Team Championship golf tournament.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.