After months of requests, Thomas Skibinski from the Union County Chamber of Commerce addressed the county budget committee on May 27. The committee inquired as to how the chamber was spending the more than $80K contributed to the chamber from the occupancy (hotel-motel) tax. Skibinski listed the total amount on tourism but did not explain individual project expenditures. When asked about Thunder in the Park, he and Mayor Bailey explained that fireworks could no longer be launched behind Trinity Funeral Home due to the new housing development. In addition, the liability insurance had made the fireworks program no longer cost effective.

He revealed that the chamber was in discussion regarding a drone show and hoped to use the drone show for Thunder in the Park. He said that the chamber carried over $20,000 to use with the grant to complete Heritage Park and hoped to have the park completed this year. He noted that he had recently located the by-laws and that meetings were at various locations in the evening including the Knoxville Dragway and the Kitchen Design Center. Skibinski was also asked about business and industry recruitment. He stated that industry is very specific about being near the interstate and related a story where a business declined to locate because it exceeded the distance from the interstate that the business desired.

The budget committee also approved a cap of $100K for the total nonprofit donations to all organizations. Mayor Bailey cautioned that the Union County Commission would not necessarily be bound by the cap and would be free to change or even ignore the cap. The budget committee has worked diligently to keep the budget balanced under the current tax rate, according to Mayor Bailey.

The committee approved the school budget, an actuarial study to possibly give increased retirement benefits to police officers, and the county budget with no tax increase. All were recommended to the commission for approval.

The next regular budget committee will meet be on June 17 in the large courtroom at 6 p.m.