Finance panel stands by property recommendation

Bedford County Board of Commissioners' budget and finance committee, meeting Tuesday night, stood by its decision to recommend to the full commission the sale of four lots and the Medical Arts Building, saying it was trying to do what was necessary to avert a county budget crisis.

On Monday night, the commission's courthouse and property committee had said that any issue involving the use or disposal of county property needed to come before the courthouse committee before going to the full commission. The courthouse committee asked the finance committee to rescind its action and refer the disposition of the property to the courthouse committee first.

Commissioner Bobby Vannatta made that motion during Tuesday night's finance committee meeting, but he failed to get a second.

Finance committee members said that if the full commission wants to refer the matter to the courthouse committee, it can do so when the issue comes up next month.

The county will take possession of the former Harris Middle School building later this year, and will have access to the Bedford County Medical Center building in a few years, once Community Health Systems builds a new hospital and its own doctor's office building. The county-owned Medical Arts Building, behind BCMC, may eventually become less popular as a location once CHS opens its new facility and could therefore have vacant space as well.

Commissioners say they would like to centralize county offices and end some of the county's lease arrangements with private landlords. Which of these three buildings -- Harris Middle School, the current BCMC, or the Medical Arts Building -- would make the best county office building? How much would it cost to renovate each one? How much would each one bring in revenue if sold? Could Bedford County Nursing Home use the hospital space for assisted living or senior citizen apartments? Those are the types of issues the courthouse committee says must be studied before taking any action like selling the Medical Arts Building.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt University Medical Center -- one of the current Medical Arts Building tenants -- wants to combine two existing suites. If the county will renovate the suites, VUMC will pay an increased rent to pay for the cost. But if the county sells the MAB, it might not be able to recoup the investment.

The finance committee did vote to refer VUMC's request to the courthouse committee for study. However, the sale of the MAB, along with four lots on Union Street, remains on the full commission's Aug. 9 agenda.

As part of the agreement which sold the hospital's operations to Community Health Systems, the company is managing and maintaining the MAB for the county. However, the county retains ownership of the BCMC building and the MAB.

The finance committee also responded angrily to the implication by some courthouse committee members -- particularly Wayne Tucker, who was in the audience for the finance committee's meeting Tuesday night -- that it has not been open about the budget process.

"I sincerely hope that this committee has been a committee to provide information," said chairman Roger Brothers.

Tucker said his remarks might have been "off the cuff" and were part of a criticism of the commission's committee system as a whole.

"I was not throwing rocks," said Tucker.

The finance committee did acknowledge that Tucker has been one of the few commissioners to actually attend the finance committee meetings and attempt to learn more about what is going on with the county budget.

Other discussion at Tuesday's finance committee meeting:

* The committee recommended to the full commission a contract with the state to add a turn lane to U.S. 41-A in front of the Community School campus. The state will pay 100 percent of the project cost.

* The committee heard that $250,000 in revenue from the Circuit Court Clerk's office had, in fact, been accidentally left out of the proposed general fund budget which was studied last week. That revenue has now been plugged back into the budget.

Last week, observers had said that if the revenue was added, the finance committee could reduce its proposed property tax increase. But with the sale of the surplus real estate now in question, finance committee members apparently believe they need that money for the general fund balance. No reduction in the tax rate was discussed.

* The committee recommended a three-year capital outlay note for up to $114,000 to fund the renovation of the former Tennessee Rehabilitation Center as a headquarters for Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, a local office for the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and a driver's license testing station for Bedford County.

* The committee finalized its recommendations for several of the smaller county funds which aren't funded by property tax revenue. A special fund has been created this year for the proceeds of the sale of BCMC.