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County Executive Jerry Cunningham is questioning the accuracy of a citizens group's criticisms of county spending.

Citizens for Blount County's Future and Citizens for Better Government have blasted what they consider extravagant spending by county officials, including Sheriff James Berrong.

Jim Folts of Citizens for Better Government has developed a study comparing Blount County's spending with that of Washington County.

"You need a benchmark any time you're analyzing a business," he said. "We tried to apply the same technique to the county."

Folts highlighted a $10 million difference between the counties' general fund spending; however, his study did not compare spending by their respective school systems or highway departments.

"The people will make the judgment about whether it is legitimate," Folts said. "If the people are well-informed, the people will fix the problem."

Cunningham said the comparison is not accurate.

"It is a totally unfair comparison," he said. "Johnson City and Jonesborough comprise about 60 percent of the area and population up there. Maryville and Alcoa only comprise about 15 percent of the square mileage area."

For example, the Washington County Sheriff's Office only covers 30,000 people out of the total county population while the Blount County Sheriff's Office covers 80,000 here, Cunningham said.

As to whether he thought the sheriff was spending too much, Cunningham said an analysis of the past seven years of expenditures didn't support that charge.

"No, I don't," he said. "(the sheriff's budget) has gone up dollarwise, just like everything else in the county, but it hasn't jumped percentagewise. it's stayed stable. That's a strong indicator that he's doing a good management job."

The Sheriff's Office budget has remained, on average, at about 46 percent of total county spending despite increasing operational costs, Berrong said.

"In 1999, we moved from the courthouse with jail capacity for 71 beds to the justice center," he said. "This jail holds 350 beds. It's close to five times the size.

"In 2001 and 2002, you'll see a big jump because the County Commission insisted on the Sheriff's Office running the juvenile detention facility. Even with all these add-ons, we've stayed consistent within the general county expenditures."

Berrong takes a dim view of what he considers deceptive claims by the groups.

"What's frustrating is that they'll take an ounce of fact and make a pound of fiction," Berrong said. "I don't see how anybody can distort information like they do and think they are accomplishing anything.

"I don't understand what is the purpose of trying to deceive the people on the law enforcement expenditures. We spend less and less time really doing our job due to just a handful of critics. We want to get back to doing our job — protecting the people and investigating the crimes."

For his part, Cunningham expressed outrage about the accusations from the group.

"I deeply resent it," Cunningham said. "It's dishonest, disingenuous and disgusting. I accept constructive criticism, but these cheap shots have got to be called for what they are.

"You've got a lot of self-anointed experts running around for the sake of the camera, but they just don't have their figures right."

The tax burden to live in the county is not very high, especially for some of the critics, Cunningham said.

"Some of them are living here and enjoying our police service and good roads and library and good schools for $1.60 a day. All I can say to those folks is, 'What a deal. What are you crying about?' There are some people who would complain about the second coming of Christ because he didn't come to their house first."

Linda King of Citizens for Blount County's Future is adamant that county spending needs to be under scrutiny.

"There are things that should change," she said. "The last couple of years, we've been able to make a difference. The more you get involved the more difference you can make."

Folts also said his group is not afraid to point out the good in county government.

"We have some very good people in county government," Folts said. "Some people are running their departments better and cheaper than (in Washington County)."