A Tri-County Railroad Authority request of $80,000 from Warren County government is an attempt to collect $5 million from the state. 

Required is a 10 percent match. 

“TDOT has recently released sequestered funds and the funds are available to the authorities,” said L. Patrick Conyers, executive director of Tri-County Railroad. “We are faced with the possibility of having to come up with approximately $500,000 to match the TDOT allocation from prior years, which is equal to approximately $5 million. TDOT has changed the rules from prior years to require that the 10 percent match be in cash only.” 

Four years ago the state of Tennessee confiscated all short line railroad authority’s funds due to a pending suit against the Tennessee Department of Revenue related to the Equity Trust Fund that was generated back in 1976 to fund and rehab abandoned railroads such as the one in Coffee, Warren and White counties. 

To generate the matching funds, Tri-County Railroad Authority has requested $20,000 a year for the next four years from Warren, Coffee and White counties ($240,000), $40,000 a year for the next four years from Caney Fork and Western Railroad ($160,000), and up to $100,000 will come from Tri-County Railroad Authority. 

The authority oversees approximately 60 miles of land, track and roadbed running through Coffee, Warren and White counties. There is approximately 21 miles of roadbed in Coffee, 23 miles in Warren, and 16 miles in White. Caney Fork and Western Railroad uses the authority’s tracks to serve businesses and industries. 

The county Budget and Finance Committee met and unanimously approved the allocation of $20,000 a year for four years. Warren County Commission consideration is required.