Funds for the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association were dropped from the budget before it was approved last week. A resolution was on the agenda naming the two non-profit organizations that were scheduled to receive funds -- $12,000 for the Boys & Girls Club and $10,000 for the Overhill.

John Pippenger made a motion to decline the resolution, seconded by Daniel Deal. Pippenger said funds for the Overhill had been cut several years ago and he did not know it was in this year’s budget or he would have made a motion to cut it. Mark Bishop asked if the group received money last year and Stinnett said they had. Pippenger asked if it was in the budget and Stinnett said it was in the budget requests for last year and this year. “It was in your packet,” he said, and Pippenger said he didn’t catch it.

Commissioners voted unanimously to delete the funding. Wanda Cheek and Fred Wilcoxon were absent.

Pippenger then made a motion to approve the resolution for the Boys & Girls Club donation. It was approved 6-1, with Buster Lewis voting no. Pippenger said the $10,000 scheduled for the Overhill should be divided for the Parks & Rec committees on the two sides of the county.

The Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association was created in 1990 to promote economic development through heritage tourism in Polk, McMinn and Monroe counties, with each of the counties providing some administrative funding. Much of the Overhill’s budget comes from grants for special projects for marketing the region and developing programs to attract visitors. TOHA owns the Old Line Railroad, after a loan from Glenn Springs Holdings made it possible to keep the line from being abandoned by CSX. Through an agreement with the Overhill, Tennessee Valley Railroad is running excursion trains through Polk County to the historic Bald Mountain Loop, with several monthly to Copperhill.