City's budget finalized

Jun. 16—The Crossville City Council approved its $21.8 million budget for 2022-'23 Tuesday night, with a 6% cost of living raise for all employees, 2% step raises, and increases in part-time and seasonal pay.

The budget is balanced, with a tax rate of 60.59 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The budget also includes funding for golf tournament sponsorships, paid for by the hotel-motel tax revenues, and a one-time donation to Roane State Community College — though both allocations are lower than requested amounts.

Prior to the meeting's start, the council heard comments on its proposed budget.

Holly Hanson, director of the Cumberland County RSCC campus, asked the city for $150,000 requested to help complete an expansion and renovation at the campus. The project will add a functional chemistry lab and provide space for a two-year registered nursing program.

"Our nursing program is very competitive," Hanson said. "This would be the first time that we have been able to offer nursing or expand our nursing program in Cumberland County."

Many local students pursue health care fields, Hanson said. Currently, nursing students must travel to Harriman, Oak Ridge or Knoxville for their classes. They also typically complete clinical assignments in those areas.

The program could serve 24 nursing students in a cohort.

The school does offer a program to allow licensed practical nurses to advance their careers through a registered nurse bridge program. Tennessee College of Applied Technology offers a bachelor's in nursing bridge program through East Tennessee State University.

The project cost is estimated at $2 million, though those figures were before the cost of building supplies began increasing. The state has allocated $1.7 million for the project.

Hanson said the school's foundation had requested $150,000 from the city and the Cumberland County Commission. She anticipates additional shortfalls due to increased costs of construction, which she said the Roane State Foundation would need to raise.

If the school is able to break ground this fall, Hanson anticipates opening the new classrooms and chemistry lab in spring 2024. The nursing program would open fall 2024.

During budget talks, Mayor James Mayberry recommended reducing the allocation for the RSCC project to $100,000, with funding coming from the city's $18 million fund balance.

Mayberry noted the funding for the project was coming from the state, city and county.

"It seems like the Roane State Foundation or some part of Roane State should have some skin in the game," he said.

While Mayberry suggested a reduction in funding from the requested amount, he added the school could return if there was a need "down the road."

"You don't have to fund everything right off the bat," he said.

City Manager Greg Wood said it was likely the project would not be completed in the coming budget year.

Crossville resident Randall Kidwell addressed funding for two state golf tournaments previously sponsored by the city: The Tennessee Women's Open and the Tennessee Senior Men's Championship.

The city began sponsoring the two tournaments in 2016 at a cost of $25,000 each per year. The contract ended in 2022.

Council members questioned the economic impact of the tournaments, which are not held inside the city limits. The city's sponsorship goes toward the tournament prize money paid to winners, and it is the only cash sponsor for the two tournaments.

Last year, the Women's Open drew 97 players and the senior men's open brought 126 players to the community. The Tennessee Golf Association and Tennessee Professional Golf Association estimated the two tournaments have an overall economic impact of about $80,000, which includes estimated lodging costs, food and beverage, greens fees paid to the golf course and gift certificates purchased from golf courses.

Crossville and Cumberland County are known as the Golf Capitol of Tennessee due to the many golf courses located here. Kidwell said no articles referring to the community as the Golf Capital of Tennessee included references to the two tournaments.

He added there were other ways to spend taxpayer funds, like headwalls on culverts, painting curbs or building sidewalks in residential areas.

"I think it's entirely inappropriate to spend our taxpayer dollars to fund these golf tournaments," Kidwell said.

Mayberry said he agreed with many of Kidwell's comments, particularly the lack of seeking additional tournament sponsors.

"I agree with you, Mr. Kidwell, but also, I have a problem since all these years Crossville has been marketed as the Golf Capitol of Tennessee," he said.

The sponsorships had previously come from the city's general fund, which is funded through sales tax collections and property tax payments.

This year, the council looked to its hotel-motel tax fund, which is funded through taxes on hotel and motel room rentals and temporary lodging at campgrounds, home rentals and other short-term stays. The fund is expected to generate about $200,000 next year, which must be used for tourism or economic development projects.

The council did reduce funding for the tournaments to $10,000 each, and it has no contract obligating future funds from the city.

"To me, it does not benefit the municipality of Crossville," Kidwell told the Chronicle later. That, he told the Chronicle, should determine city funding — whether from general fund revenues or the hotel-motel tax fund.

The city also heard from Alicia Arehart with Fair Park Senior Center. The center had requested $30,000 in funding from both the city and the county. The county's budget committee has included that funding amount in its budget, though the panel has not yet looked at potential cuts as it waits for revenue figures.

The city budgeted $25,000 for the senior center, an increase from last year's funding of $20,000.

As the council turned to finalizing its budget, which has passed on two readings in title only, Councilman R.J. Crawford moved to approve the budget but to further reduce allocations for the golf tournaments to $5,000 each and reduce the Roane State allocation to $50,000.

The motion died for lack of a second.

Councilman Rob Harrison then moved to approve the budget, keeping golf sponsorships at $10,000 each and reducing the Roane State allocation to $100,000. Crawford supported the motion. Councilman Scot Shanks initially passed on voting but voted in favor after the other four council members voted to approved the motion.

The council also approved increases in part-time and seasonal employee wages. Currently, the city pays part-time employees $10.50 an hour and pays seasonal workers $9.50 an hour.

The council approved paying part-time workers $13.50 an hour and seasonal employees $12 an hour.

Wood said there are 14 vacancies for part-time and seasonal positions.

He can fund the increased pay rates from budget savings for those unoccupied positions.

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.