Spring Hill’s mayor and Board of Aldermen are pondering whether to continue giving taxpayer money to certain nonprofits.
This, according to City Spokesman Jamie Page, who told The Tennessee Star Wednesday that board members will have to make what is essentially a political decision.
“Over the years, the general thought was about giving to those non-profits, as many municipalities do, because those non-profits serve a general public purpose. But that’s been re-thought,” Page said.
“They came back to it. Looked at it in a different way and started questioning whether they should give to any of the non-profits, period. It is a matter of philosophy that you would have to ask each of the individual board members.”
Spring Hill Mayor Rick Graham and the eight aldermen did not immediately return The Star’s request for comment Wednesday.
As The Columbia Daily Herald reported this week, Graham wants to put forward a motion that would allow the board to vote on allocating General Fund dollars to local nonprofits.
“Last week, the board was split 4-4 on approving funding to five local nonprofit organizations, and another lost 4-3 with Alderman Hazel Nieves abstaining due to a conflict of interest with the Boys and Girls Club of Maury County. Alderman Kevin Gavigan was absent from the meeting,” the website reported.
Graham, though, reportedly said the board passed a budget and it’s unfair to nonprofits that budgeted for that money to not receive it.
“BOMA’s vote last week means a total of $22,750 will remain in the city’s General Fund, rather than go to those nonprofits,” according to The Columbia Daily Herald.
“The breakdown in funding ranges from $2,000 to $5,000 for various organizations, each of which are local to Spring Hill and Maury County. Those organizations are the Boys and Girls Clubs of Maury County ($3,500), Maury County Senior Citizens ($4,500), Spring Hill Arts Center ($5,000), Spring Hill Senior Citizens ($2,000), the Well Food Bank ($5,000) and the Tennessee Children’s Home ($2,750).”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rick Graham” by Rick Graham. Background Photo “Spring Hill City Hall” by Skye Marthaler. CC BY-SA 3.0.
