The vote to approve was 3 to 2 with council members James Mayberry and Mike Turner opposed. Mayberry and Turner were seeking to put back donations for popular local agencies that had been cut from the budget at the last minute.

Councilman Turner requested an increase for the Fair Park Senior Center from from $15,000 to $20,000 and Mayberry was requesting to replace funding for agencies cut out of the budget including Hospice, Avalon and VORP Mediation Center.

Mayor R. J. Crawford who has been pushing to cut donations to non-profits for several years said the agencies were not “city specific” and wanted to share funding with the county. He added the amount used to be some $400,000 and he didn’t want to see that again. This year’s donations to what are called outside agencies totals some $2.8 million with $2.3 million funding directed to the YMCA’s Recreation Center project through the Sports Authority of the City of Crossville.

An amendment was offered to the restore the $15,000 of donations and was accepted by Councilman Art Gernt but not by the second, Mayor Crawford. A vote on the original motion to approve the budget as originally presented received yes votes from Gernt, Mark Fox and Crawford ending the efforts to put any funding back.