Kingsport lists key priorities in legislative agenda for Tennessee General Assembly
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — The City of Kingsport revealed its legislative agenda for the 113th Tennessee General Assembly on Thursday.
The city’s 2024 agenda included top priority items, such as the Kingsport Dental Clinic project, the Brickyard Development, the Interstate 26 Corridor Study and the state industrial access road for Eastman, the city said in a release.
The city presented the following priorities to the 113th Tennessee General Assembly in Nashville in mid-January:
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$6.5 million in funding for the Kingsport Dental Clinic project. The funding would reportedly assist in purchasing a facility and completing the buildout for phase two.
A $500,000 Brownfield Redevelopment Area Grant for Cement Hill Park.
A Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant for improvements to Bays Mountain, new mountain biking trails at Cement Hill and more parking at Scott Adams Skate Park.
Executing TDOT’s recommendations from the Interstate 26 Corridor Study, such as installing animal fencing along the interstate, creating an I-26 safety fund and advancing large safety projects to a 10-year plan, the city stated.
Funding Eastman’s state industrial access road project.
Opposing efforts to restrict local government’s ability to raise property taxes.
Supporting the Tennessee Comptroller’s efforts to move reassessments to a two-year schedule.
“The agenda is a way for Kingsport to maintain an open channel of communications with our legislators, which they want and appreciate,” Deputy City Manager Ryan McReynolds said. “It’s meant to bring them up to speed on a number of projects in the works and to let them know our funding priorities for the coming legislative session.”
Each year, Kingsport officials craft a legislative agenda that includes projects, priorities and funding requests the city wants state representatives and senators to be aware of.
City Manager Chris McCartt told News Channel 11 the document typically takes six to seven months to prepare and represents the “high-points” of the city’s agenda.
“It’s also an opportunity to talk about projects that we are working on in the city and how those projects we believe will be beneficial for not only our citizens, but in some situations like the dental clinic for the entire region,” McCartt said.
The city’s request for funding of the Kingsport Dental Clinic isn’t the only wider issue included in the legislative packet, however. The city is supporting a measure that would impact communities across the state: Comptroller Jason Mumpower’s proposal to shorten the reappraisal cycle from five to two years.
McCartt said the five-year cycle requires mid-cycle adjustments that often force cities to reduce tax rates. Last fiscal year, McCartt said the city lost $3.8 million from its general fund as part of the process.
“We’ve really spent the bulk of this fiscal year making adjustments to our budget and also realizing we have to make adjustments going into fiscal 2025 because the next reassessment won’t hit until fiscal 2026,” McCartt said.
The reappraisal proposal is scheduled for a vote in the State House. It is currently winding through Senate committees.
McCarrt said the city is also urging state lawmakers and the Tennessee Department of Transportation to work on small improvements through I-26, including wildlife fences and changes to the I-81 interchange.
“We wanted to bring that to the attention of our legislators to remind them that not every fix is a multimillion-dollar fix,” McCartt said.
News Channel 11 asked Gov. Bill Lee’s office for a comment on the budget requests included in the legislative packet.
Lee’s press secretary, Elizabeth Lane Johnson, said via email, “At this time, the City of Kingsport’s funding requests are still being considered as the FY 2025 budget process is ongoing and ultimately determined by the General Assembly.”
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