Photo Credit: Beacon Center of Tennessee
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The Beacon Center of Tennessee has released this year’s “Pork Report” in an appropriately-themed “recipe book” entitled 12 Recipes for government waste, fraud and abuse.
The tongue-in-cheek recipes lay out the problems and offer up workable Conservative solutions.
The Beale Street Irish Car Bombs recipe highlights the billion-dollar handout to Ford to move to West Tennessee to establish Ford’s “Blue Oval City.”
Excerpt: After sitting vacant for 15 years, the Memphis Regional Megasite has finally found a tenant…and it’s only costing hundreds of millions more in tax dollars. After legislators already allocated more than $189 million to make the 4,100 acre site shovel-ready, the state called a special session to give another half a billion dollars to Ford Motor Company, along with nearly $400 million more for infrastructure, legal fees, and the formation of a Megasite Authority, meaning taxpayers will have ponied up over $1 billion…
Solution – Instead of corporate handouts, focus on key reforms that actually drive relocations for businesses of all sizes like Franchise & Excise Tax reform and placing right-to-work in the state constitution.
Grab the Money and Go Snack Mix focuses on Governor Lee’s program that paid for tourists to visit select Tennessee cities.
Excerpt: “Roads. Police. Schools. Plane tickets for tourists? Government spending on the first three is expected. But tourism subsidies? That raised eyebrows across the political spectrum in July when Gov. Bill Lee announced that the state would give $250 travel vouchers to anyone wanting to visit the Volunteer State’s big four cities. The effort was launched in an attempt to boost a tourism industry that got shellacked during the pandemic. However well-intentioned, this is clearly not the role of government, and that’s why the $2.8 million price tag rankled Tennesseans from the Lt. Governor on down.”
Solution – Rein in local governments’ authority to impose harmful restrictions on businesses during a state of emergency rather than bailing them out with state taxpayer money.
Exhaust Smoked Ham with Nashville-Hot Honey Glaze hones in on a tax dollar grab through outdated emissions testing.
Excerpt: State lawmakers wised up back in 2018 when they voted to allow counties to end this unnecessary program. Yet it took the Environmental Protection Agency more than three years to approve their action, resulting in the state raking in an additional $2.9 million a year for a program that it had decided it didn’t even want. Fortunately, the EPA finally got its act together and signed off on the state’s plan this past August, saving taxpayers boatloads of time and money. But it’s still not time to celebrate if you live in Davidson County. Your Metro Council voted to keep this outdated and ineffective program in place, so you’ll have to keep lining up and forking over your hard-earned dollars for the illusion that you’re doing good by the environment.
Solution – Fight to return power to the state rather than in Washington, so that state leaders can make the best decisions for Tennesseans without needing federal approval.
Garlic and Wild Leek Park-Boiled Potatoes reveals the taxpayer-funded gift to the construction of a Waterpark in Jackson.
Excerpt: If you thought Opryland getting taxpayer dollars for a waterpark was a one time thing, you’d be wrong. Tennessee’s 2021-2022 budget includes $20 million for the construction of the Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark in Jackson, the country’s largest indoor waterpark chain. This doesn’t even include the local tax dollars that will almost certainly be included in the deal.
Solution – Leave the water and amusement parks to the private sector and let consumer demand determine where they should be located.
Air Fryer Roasted Chestnuts roasts Shelby County Schools’ $25 Million contract to improve air quality.
Excerpt: Shelby County bought air purifiers made by Global Plasma Solutions, $25 million worth to be exact. An engineering group that assisted Shelby County Schools with their reopening recommended the school district seek independent research on this technology, but at the time, no such research existed. According to county leaders, taxpayers should not be worried about the cost because the money didn’t come from the general fund or other local dollars, but rather from COVID-19 relief money. Clearly, the county doesn’t realize taxpayer money comes from taxpayer pockets, whether or not it’s first rerouted through Washington, D.C.
Solution – County leaders should always do their due diligence before making big purchases, especially ones regarding the air quality for children, and make sure they pass the smell test before spending millions on unproven products.
On-Your-Pillow Chocolate Mints laments the Shelby County Commission’s Emergency-fund grant to workers they sidelined during COVID-19.
Excerpt: In January 2021, the Shelby County Commission passed a resolution to give grants to hotel, restaurant, and hospitality workers. The resolution pulls $2.5 million from the county’s reserve fund, which exists for emergencies. The county is now having to hand out $1,000-$2,500 grants to clean up their own mess.
Solution – Local governments should stop competing with the private sector by wasting tax dollars on non-essential luxury items like golf courses, sports stadiums, and theaters that are way outside of the scope of government. It’s even worse when they then raise taxes to fund basic infrastructure in the process.
Game-Day Chicken Wings with Caviar serves up the Nashville Event Marketing Fund Committee’s continued funding of events that only benefit the rich.
Excerpt: The Nashville Event Marketing Fund Committee gave out a combined $3.5 million to money-making events (that were coming here anyway). The $3.5 million is in addition to the “free” money from the CARES Act, which somehow paid for the Music City Grand Prix and Live on the Green, two events that have nothing at all to do with COVID. This is yet another example of the city of Nashville transferring tax dollars from the people who need the money to the people who don’t.
Solution – Disband the Nashville Event Marketing Fund, a slush fund for the well-connected at the expense of Nashville taxpayers. Metro should stop handing out taxpayer dollars to event organizers, especially those events already established in Nashville.
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Cranberry-Orange Ballpark Pretzels cries foul at debt-funded Baseball fields and taxpayer waste in Johnson City.
Excerpt: Johnson City has allocated $300,000 over the last two budgets for marketing to offer up to $5,000 in grants for out-of-town individuals to move to the city, which in August 2021 was reported to have a majority of applicants coming from Middle Tennessee, Illinois, and Florida. Aside from the cash incentives, applicants can also play Johnson City’s version of The Price is Right to potentially get $1,000 gift certificates towards a bike or kayak, free grills, discounted workspace, and sporting goods.
Solution – Elected officials should stop with the bush league plays and focus on core government services, not taking on debt for unnecessary special projects and incentives.
Utility-Charred Knoxellini presents a needless Government-run Broadband plan from the Knoxville Utility Board.
Excerpt: The Knoxville Utility Board (KUB) recently approved a plan to offer broadband internet to some local residents at a projected cost of $702 million over 10 years. The plan follows multiple government-owned networks that have taken place in recent years and generally are a bad investment for taxpayers.
Solution – Local governments should not use tax dollars to inject themselves into sectors of the economy, especially when private businesses are ready and willing to meet those needs. Instead, governments should look at cutting red tape for communication infrastructure to make it easier for private investment to address local needs.
Field Green’s with Lemony Breadcrumbs serves up Hamilton County’s $16 Million purchase of Mostly unusable land.
Excerpt: Hamilton County commissioners must be fans of the movie Field of Dreams after spending $16 million to buy 2,170 acres in hopes to turn it into a manufacturing hub. The mayor stated there were only about 600-700 acres that were ready for development, meaning the price for current usable land cost taxpayers nearly $23,000 an acre.
Solution – “If you build it, they will come” might be a good movie quote, but it makes for horrible policy. These types of deals historically have been a strikeout for taxpayers instead of a grand slam. Elected officials should stop short of spending tax dollars and instead seek to make it easier for businesses to operate in Tennessee.
And the recipe for the winner of the 2021 Pork of the Year goes to Over-stuffed Baked Apples – Metro Nashville Public School’s favoritism and $18 Million No-Bid Contract with Meharry Medical Ventures.
Excerpt: MNPS decided to shut down schools from any in-person learning because of the health risks of COVID, but at the same time partnered with the YMCA to offer free in-person childcare for Kindergarten through 5th grade students and, ironically, the children of MNPS employees. , It was discovered that MNPS agreed to a no-bid contract worth a whopping $18 million of taxpayer money to partner with Meharry Medical Ventures for a COVID contract, getting essentially nothing in return. The no-bid contract produced a $1.8 million website that barely works and has the visual appeal of AskJeeves.com.
Solution – Governments should never give out no-bid contracts, especially when $18 million is involved. Additionally, government contracts should be detailed and transparent. This horrific deal should be audited by the state to see where things went wrong and who is responsible for such a raw deal for taxpayers.
View the full “recipe book” HERE.
The Beacon Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and independent organization dedicated to providing expert empirical research and timely free market solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee. By putting policy over politics, they have successfully pushed for bold reforms in education, healthcare, economic regulation, and tax policy, among many others.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
One Response
Beyond disgusting!