Tennessee’s oversight board tasked with spending billions of dollars in stimulus money is hitting a snag with the last $275 million. The federal funds were issued to help states deal with the coronavirus.
More than 60 organizations — both nonprofit and for-profit — have applied for the funding earmarked for “external” groups. They range from Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s request for $50 million to add ICU beds to the Fort Campbell Historical Foundation asking for $28 million to fund the long-awaited Wings of Liberty Museum.
A $232 million request from the state’s nursing home association would alone eat up most of the funding. But some of the smaller requests are more loosely aligned with the goal of the stimulus money, including support for festivals and the Music City Bowl.
More: See a full list of the requests here.
Members of the Financial Stimulus Accountability Group met Wednesday and told Finance Commissioner Butch Eley that they are somewhat uncomfortable with the process of narrowing the proposals and weighing their merits.
“I think what’s been said here today is totally accurate in that you don’t want to pick winners and losers,” he said in summary of their comments.
The panel is regrouping. Instead, they’ll look at funding particular needs the state has coming out of the pandemic — like childcare.
The group was supposed to start making decisions about the external funding at next month’s meeting. It’s unclear whether they’re still on track to meet their timeline.
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