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Tennessee State Parks

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Tennessee State Parks The State of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact that is generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. Following the war of 1812 Tennessee was given the nicknamed the “Volunteer State” it was given this nickname due to the prominent role played by the volunteer soldiers from Tennessee. Tennessee has a current population of 6.5 million citizens composed of a diverse group of people leading to diversity in recreation opportunity needs. This diversity in recreation needs are placed on the state parks system which works to meet these needs. The powers of state are divided into three distinct branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial by …show more content…

The law directs the Commissioner of Finance and Administration to prepare the budget; this budget is comprised in accordance with the governor’s directives. After receipt of operational and capital budget requests, the Department of Finance and Administration’s Division of Budget begins the process of balancing expenditures against estimated revenues. Within designated constraint, funds must be provided for administration initiatives of high priority, activities mandated by state or federal statute, and the day-to-day operation of state government. At the time the budget is presented, the appropriation process is initiated. The Division of Budget establishes an annual allotment for each agency using the appropriations act. This annual allotment is used for budgetary control. Over the years, Tennessee has consistently maintained a relatively low debt burden; the state has accomplished this through the use of sound, prudent, and conservative debt management practices adopted by the executive and legislative branches of government. Tennessee has a maximum principal amount of bonds that can be issued by the state, this amount is based on a debt service coverage test that; first calculates the amount necessary to pay the maximum annual debt service in the then current or any future …show more content…

Tennessee receives the fifth greatest amount in overall General Fund support in the nation. The average percent of other states operating budget amount provided by the General Fund is closer to 40%. Tennessee is one of eight states nationwide and two in the southeast whose park system is free to the public. Also, Tennessee is one of ten states that do not have a dedicated funding mechanism for their state parks. Dedicated funding is when funds gained from a certain product are set aside to go to a certain good, examples of dedicated funding are licenses, severance tax, restrictions, leases, and many others; an example of a state with a dedicated funding mechanism is Virginia, which dedicates the revenue from timber sales. Tennessee derives capital expenditures for its state park investments from the General Fund and is the only state to do so. Most states do this through the issue of bonds or draw on dedicated funds for investments in their state park facilities. (Tennessee Support for State Parks Compared to Other

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