John Coffelt, Editor

A push by several aldermen could significantly cut city funds in next year’s budget that go to the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center.     

A divided Board of Mayor and Aldermen failed to pass the first reading to approve the 2023-24 budget at the May 10 special call meeting.

The budget presented to the board is balanced, pulling $1 million from debt service payment to cover the initial deficit of over $2 million left after the a 10% cut across each department.

The sticking point in the budget is the $500,000 that was allocated to go to the Conference Center. This amount will still not completely fund the budget that the Manchester Public Building Authority passed for the center’s operation, coming in just over $48,000 short.

At the special call meeting a motion to defund the center narrowly failed 3-3 with Mayor Marilyn Howard breaking the tie.

Alderman Julie Anderson made the motion to amend the line item for the center’s funding to zero dollars.

She said that the Conference Center is of keen interest to the public and noted that the center has not made a profit for its 20 years in existence. She accused that loss being in violation of a state law that requires those entities be self-supporting.

“It should be self-supporting. It should not be something we have to subsidize, especially when it’s competing with other restaurants that offer things like catering,” Anderson said.

“I don’t think this was a successful experiment. I think it’s always going to be a hard time to draw a line. I don’t feel good about throwing more money down the black hole when there are several other things in the city that are deserving,” she said.

Aldermen Bob Bellamy and Donny Parsley joined Anderson in voting for defunding the center with Alderman Ryan French, Joey Hobbs and Vice Mayor Messick objected to the change, and Howard broke the tie with a no vote.

Howard said she did not support completely removing the line item, but did advocate dropping the allocation to $400,000.

French called for a frank, fact-based discussion. He criticized the mayor’s reasoning as not being based on data.

“A feeling or what’s being said in the community, What does that mean?” French said. “All I’ve ever asked is that when we have debate is that we have objective debate. To debate on the real stuff and not to debate on made up stuff.”  

He cautioned that cutting funding to the conference center will affect the city’s entire tax base.

The Finance Committee will hold a special call meeting at 5:30 p.m., May 17 to address the budget. Members of the committee invited the entire board and the PBA to attend.

Requests for comments have been sent to the PBA and to the General Manager of the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center. This story will be updated with their response. 

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.