County Commission Finance Chairman Tim Boyd on Wednesday recommended $4.1 million in county budget cuts, which he said would provide bond funds for $43,150,000 in county school projects.
He recommended that $250,000 of the money from the cuts go to relocating Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) to Dalewood Middle School. He said Dalewood students could move to a portion of Brainerd High School.
Commissioner Boyd, at a meeting he called prior to the regular commission meeting, included $2 million in cuts to the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau. He said it would still have over $5 million from the hotel/motel tax.
Other Boyd cuts include:
$900,000 in discretionary spending by the commissioners
cut the commissioner travel allowance by $35,000
the $295,000 Read 20 program
$100,000 from the Chamber of Commerce
$100,000 from the Enterprise Center
$50,000 from the Urban League
$120,000 from the Humane Educational Society
$100,000 from the Planning Commission
$400,000 from the Enterprise Nature Park
He said the Enterprise Center is an entity started by the city, and he said there are no current projects for the Urban League to monitor relating to minority participation.
Commissioner Boyd said the budget at the Enterprise Nature Park has shot up in recent years. He said it is a much more simplified operation than Chester Frost Park with no overnight camping.
He proposed that the bond funds created by the cuts be used for:
New $28 million elementary school
$10 million for a new Sports Complex at Howard High School
$3 million for a new Lookout Valley Middle/High gym with the remaining $3 million needed to come from county fund balance
$475,000 each for tracks at East Hamilton, Tyner, Soddy Daisy and Hixson High
Commissioner Boyd said putting Dalewood into Brainerd High would bring that school up to 80 percent capacity. He said the move by CSLA to Dalewood would allow the enrollment at the magnet school to increase by 200 and take it out of a deteriorating, aging building.
He said his "action plan" was "a call to action for the County Commission and School Board to work together to address the many serious facility needs of our school system."
Several commissioners, including Greg Beck and Warren Mackey, said they looked favorably on the plan.
After his presentation, Commissioner Boyd said there were only a few minutes left for discussion.
That caused Commissioner Greg Martin, who was given "a minute" for comment, to say the session was more "a press conference" than a meeting. He said it was up to the School Board, not the commission, on such matters as what to do about CSLA.
Chairman Chester Bankston finally gaveled the meeting to a close.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said he is "wide open to listening to these suggestions." But he said he and his staff already cut tens of millions out of the budget each year from requests.
He said, "We have a lot of hard choices to make, and it's not all about education, though that is my top priority."
The county mayor said there is a pressing need on what to do about the unfit county jail, and he said many departments have significant budget needs.