CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) Tennessee State Representative for the 67th District and candidate for Clarksville mayor Joe Pitts spoke to the Downtown Kiwanis Club Tuesday, Aug. 21.
Pitts told the crowd he planned to discuss the latest legislative updates during his time as Representative, rather than his mayoral campaign.
Pitts gave the Kiwanians a rundown of the support provided by local lawmakers during the state’s recent legislative session.
Pitts said during the last session the state passed a balanced budget of $37.6 billion, of which $17 billion is comprised of state revenue, with the rest being federal money along with fines and fees. He said the reserve, also known as the rainy-day fund, is at a record level of $861 million.
“We’re in a really good financial state and we’re collecting record revenues because of the prosperity of our state,” Pitts said. He added that state employees received a two and a half percent baseline raise as part of the budget.
On the local side, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System received $17 million and Austin Peay received $47 million in state appropriations along, with $3.2 million for maintenance of buildings and systems on the APSU campus.
The Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) in Montgomery County, along with the 12 other TCAT sites in the state will receive around $9 million in grants to purchase training equipment for students.
Other local budgetary recipients include:
$70,000 for Recovery Court in Montgomery and Robertson counties
$100,000 for Veterans Treatment Court
$380,000 for Dunbar Cave State Park
He also said during his speech that he would have liked to see more accomplished by lawmakers on the opioid addiction problem, as well as broadband development across the state.
Also at the meeting Kiwanis member Lance Morgan was awarded a plaque as Kiwanian of the Quarter primarily for his work with the Kiwanis Rodeo.