The Montgomery County Commission passed its $156 million budget on Sept. 16, but the Montgomery Whitewater Park generated some rough waters for the commission.
After being briefed on the budget at a meeting on Sept. 2, the commission on Sept. 16 passed a budget that includes $53 million for general government operations, $60 million for public safety and $21 million for highways and roads.
The budget also includes $810,000 for additions and renovations of county buildings, as well as approximately $8 million for culture and recreation that includes libraries and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.
The budget passed on a 3-1 vote. The commission has been meeting with four members because Commissioner Daniel Harris has been absent for several months as he deals with health issues.
The turbulence began when Commissioner Isaiah Sankey questioned county funds going to Montgomery Whitewater Park. Montgomery Whitewater, a 120-acre state-of-the-art recirculating whitewater park and outdoor adventure center positioned at the gateway to historic downtown Montgomery, opened in July 2023.
The commission transferred $1 million to Whitewater in June, a move Sankey questioned but approved. Sankey said the county commission has supported the park with about $50 million so far.
On Sept. 16, Sankey complained that the park has not provided audited financial statements, and he said that the park has four partners that he said stand to share in the profits but aren’t paying into the project.
He named the partners as S2 Pro LLC from Colorado, Stone Soup Consultants LLC, Motus Montgomery LLC from Arizona, and McKenzie LLC from Montgomery.
“If you are a partner within an LLC (a type of corporation), then you can actually receive monies when they earn money,” Sankey said. “And then of course when you take the losses, they’ll carry it over to your personal income.”
“If they are benefitting from Whitewater, and Montgomery County is providing all the funding, then that ought to be a concern for each member on this commission,” Sankey said. “In the budget hearing, we decided to allocate $500,000 on an annual basis to Whitewater, and I don’t think we really have the information that we need.”
Sankey said, “The more I ask questions and the more I get the information, the more concerns I have.”
Sankey said that he would abstain from voting due to his trepidation about the LLCs, but he clarified that he supported the budget otherwise.
A copy of the operating budget can be found here. A copy of the construction budget can be found here.
The Montgomery County Commission meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 101 South Lawrence St. Information sessions begin at 10 a.m. followed by the formal meeting.
Livestreamed meetings can be seen on the commission’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
Agendas with additional details can be found at the commission’s documents section of the website.
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