Mayor says CCT issue won’t derail budget tonight
Published 8:42 am Thursday, June 12, 2014
Elizabethton’s City Council will make a second attempt to pass the budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year during its meeting tonight.
The motion to approve the budget during the May meeting failed after council members could not come to an agreement on the appropriations for outside agencies included in the budget.
Mayor Curt Alexander said he believes the budget will pass.
“I am pretty confident the budget will pass,” Alexander said. “The appropriations were the main concern. Mr. (Tom) Anderson, (president of Carter County Tomorrow) has reached out and spoken with the council members. There are some that are still not in favor of funding the agency as it is, but I feel confident the budget will pass.”
In May, council members agreed to increase an allocation for the Carter County Rescue Squad from $2,500 to $25,000, but could not agree on funding for Carter County Tomorrow.
Council member Bob Cable made a motion during the May meeting to remove all funding for CCT from the budget, which was supported by Bill Carter. Cable cited lack of progress from the agency as his reason for wanting to remove funding, while Carter stated he wanted more communication and reports from CCT on how the agency was working to meet its goals.
Other items on the agenda include the approval of the Elizabethton City School system’s budget, extending city health insurance coverage to include Watauga River Regional Water Authority employees, approval of road closures for the city’s July 4 celebration and other items.