Sullivan Commissioners Deny Funding for Highway Department

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Fearing they might be forced to raise property taxes later this year, Sullivan County commissioners Monday narrowly rejected giving the county’s highway department an extra $500,000 for paving.

“We have no money,” said County Commissioner Bart Long of Bristol. “The only way we can do anything without any money is to raise taxes.”

Highway Commissioner Allen Pope told commissioners Monday that his office ran out of money for asphalt and as a result will not be able to start any paving projects until the next budget cycle.

By Thursday, the department had already spent $538,000 of the $700,000 set aside for the purchase of supplies and materials for its asphalt plant. Pope said he must use the remaining money to buy asphalt for pavement repair projects and to pay the plant’s utility bills.

The highway department will not get any new money for paving projects until the state approves its budget and releases its state street aid funds, Pope said. That may not happen until late this spring and that money has been set aside to pave part of Kingsport’s Bloomingdale Pike, he added.

“We knew this was going to happen,” County Commissioner John McKamey of Piney Flats said, adding that Pope warned commissioners several times that he might run out of money for paving before the end of the fiscal year.

He said the highway department usually gets $1.2 million to buy asphalt each year and suggested the county take $500,000 from its general fund and give it to Pope’s department so it could continue new paving projects.

“We have neglected the roads in our rural areas and they need help,” McKamey said. “There’s roads that actually have grass growing out of the asphalt.”

Some commissioners challenged McKamey’s proposal, claiming the transfer would go against state finance rules because it would involve moving money from one department to another. They also suggested Pope buy asphalt with money from other parts of his budget, like his salt fund or other accounts.

“Even if the county could find the money in the highway department’s budget, it would have to come from some other program that would need it later in the year,” Long said.

If the county can’t afford paving with its current spending plan, it should make do until the next budget cycle, he added. Commissioners agreed, with 13 voting against McKamey’s plan and 11 supporting it.

Later in the meeting, commissioners took two other steps to reduce spending by phasing out travel and freezing hiring. Sponsored by McKamey, the travel resolution asked all county officials and department heads to avoid “unnecessary travel” outside the county.

Commissioners unanimously approved the resolution, but took out a phrase that would have required one of the commission’s three standing committees to approve any “necessary travel” before trips were made. This drew a lot of criticism from county department heads, who said it was an attempt by commissioners to micromanage.

“It’s going to be a judgment call [as to whether travel is necessary] by the department head and that’s the best you can do,” said Commissioner Eddie Williams of Kingsport, who chairs the commission’s Budget Committee.

County commissioners also unanimously approved a resolution for a county-wide hiring freeze that would bar department heads from hiring any full-time employees, but allow them to hire part-time workers.

Sponsored by County Commissioner Buddy King of Bristol, the resolution also asked department heads to pay overtime only in an “emergency situation” and even then to use comp time if possible.

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