Council cautiously approves borrowing $26 million

Tuesday's monthly Jackson City Council meeting lasted about 90 minutes, and about 65 of those minutes were spent on two items on the agenda.

After about a month-and-a-half of public discussion of Mayor Scott Conger's request for approval of a bond issue not to exceed $36.3 million for a list of various expenses the City will incur over the next few years, the meeting became a time to have serious discussion about serious issues with the process.

There was discussion after hearing explanation from City Recorder Nathan Reed about borrowing more money and not spending it, but that was shot down by comments like one from J.P. Stovall - "I've always found if there's money for government to spend, government will spend that money."

Marda Wallace proposed an amendment to the request, cutting the potential amount down to $26 million.

Her amendment would also increase the amount of money spent on resurfacing roads from $7 million to $10 million.

Julie Holt and Russ McKelvey expressed opposition to the cut after Wallace answered Holt's question of what she'd cut since her amendment would cut out $13 million of non-road spending.

Her list included cutting out the Great Wolf Lodge road because she can't find a time in City Council minutes when the Council voted to spend $6.5 million to help fund that, $4 million for putting artificial turf on the fields at the West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex, $600,000 cutting the City's spending for the homeless shelter in half, selling off the Jackson Plaza property and letting the next owner handle the demolition there and sell it.

"For a moment, I'd like to revisit the budget process last summer when we all found out we have a revenue problem in this city," McKelvey said. "We've got a member of this council unilaterally deciding what to cut from the proposal, and two of the items cut were things that could increase revenue for us."

Holt's opposition to Wallace's amendment was for similar reasons.

"I know it will take some time for these to be implemented after we commit the money to do them, but eventually, they will generate revenue," Holt said. "I don't see the point of cutting those out."

After a few minutes of discussing specific way to spend the money and whether or not each council member agreed with that notion, Conger got the discussion back to the original premise - whether or not to approve the amount.

After Wallace mentioned a history of things being funded with no reports of what to do, she made a plea to the rest of the Council.

"We need to be more accountable, and I'm afraid over the five or six years I've served on this council, I haven't done a good job of keeping accountability of the budget and spending," Wallace said.

The Council agreed to request $26 million in with the plan of meeting to discuss how to spend the money if approved. But it came with a vote of five in favor, three against (Holt, McKelvey and Johnny Dodd) and Lowrance abstaining.

"We'll see when the Council members' availability is and get together for a work session to discuss spending the money," Conger said after the meeting.

When asked about Wallace's claim that she can't find a time in the minutes when the Council voted on paying for a road to Great Wolf Lodge, Conger said they voted in 2022 about paying for some expenditures toward its construction.

After the meeting, Wallace said she understood Holt's position on Great Wolf Lodge and the turf.

"Council woman Holt is a business person and wants to protect that part of our city, and I do too, but on this vote, we've got too many roads in my district that need repair before I can vote for this."

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news