City of Kingsport, Tennessee may force animal shelter to close due to lack of funding
The special interests and pet projects of the Kingsport Board of Mayors and Alderman apparently have used up all of the money and cannot afford to give the Kingsport Humane Society additional money. Kingsport has offered $36,000, but the Humane Society needs $70,000 to avoid shutting down.
The Kingsport Animal Shelter says they may have to close down if they do not receive more money from the city to pay operating expenses. The shelter and the city have had an agreement for decades to handle the cities animal problems. But with economic hard times, and a downturn in adoptions the shelter says they can’t afford to stay open under the current conditions. The shelter is given 36-thousand dollars a year from the city, but says it needs about 70-thousand dollars more annually to support their facility.
The items below are for the 2008-2009 budget. Please note how the BMA feels about our children by giving only $5,900 for Children Advocacy Center of Sullivan County. The State of Tennessee gave $30,000 to the Children Advocacy Center. Lt. Gov Ron Ramsey stated, “I couldn’t think of any organization who could be more deserving than the Children’s Advocacy Center here” when he presented the $30,000 check.
I am sure that Kingsport can do more to support the animal shelter, but, will they?
Kingsport Ballet $5,000
Summer Concert $70,000
Kingsport Theatre Guild $5,000
Kingsport Art Guild $2,000
Symphony of the Mountains $5,000
Art Council of Greater Kingsport $7,000
Kingsport Housing Redevelopment Authority – Lincoln Street property $200,000
Kingsport Housing Redevelopment Authority – redevelopment program $63,000
Kingsport Chamber Foundation $110,000
Kingsport Tomorrow Inc community program $23,000
Networks $225,000
Downtown Kingsport Association $40,000
Children Advocacy Center of Sullivan County $5,900
First Tennessee Development District $3,200
Sullivan County Humane Society $36,000
First Tennessee Resource Agency $10,900
Kingsport Chamber of Commerce – Move to Kingsport $45,000. Plus Kingsport will pay another $45,000 matching funds
Holston Business Group $50,000. Plus a percentage of the city annual budget.
Kingsport Chamber of Commerce gets a large percentage of the hotel tax
City Manager got a 4% pay raise on July 1, 2008 plus his performance increase