OPINION: Being able to spend $4 million shows progress for Jackson

While most in Jackson see the news about the City of Jackson purchasing the property with the Service Merchandise building at the corner of Old Hickory Boulevard and North Highland Avenue and has their own thoughts about Mayor Scott Conger’s plans for an event center and arena in that space, one key detail about the situation needs not be overlooked.

The City of Jackson is able to commit to purchasing a $4 million piece of property and not have to worry about whether or not they can pay for it with or without going into debt to pay it.

For years, it seemed as if the City couldn’t do as much as decide to get an unbudgeted pack of paper for their fax machine without having to have some kind of deliberation among leaders about what budget to pull that money of to pay for it.

But it’s a new day in Jackson.

There are very few fax machines on city property anymore, so that cuts down on unbudgeted paper needs.

But it shows the City’s improved financial situation that Conger is able to have serious discussions about doing something like this that requires a $4 million commitment, and it seems reasonable-at-worst.

Now it’s not a done deal pending the city’s Budget Committee meeting on Dec. 8, but it wasn’t that long ago this wasn’t a possibility without some kind of financial sacrifice elsewhere in the city’s budget.

That’s a credit to the current group of city council members and their desire to see accountability from the Mayor and his staff at City Hall, and a commitment from Conger to make sure the taxpayers’ money isn’t wasted and used as wisely as possible to cut down on debt payments and unnecessary spending for things that don’t affect as much of the population of Jackson for less than pertinent reasons.

As we’re less than five months from municipal elections for the City, none of the council members have officially announced their intentions regarding re-election bids.

Conger has announced his plans to run for re-election, and he has one challenger so far from longtime educator Jerry Woods, who challenged Conger in the run-off in 2019.

While Jackson leadership isn’t perfect, their accomplishments are to be acknowledged, and this is one of them.

Brandon Shields is the managing editor of The Jackson Post. Contact him at brandon@jacksonpost.news. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram @editorbrandon.