Tensions mounting during the past three weeks over construction of the downtown trade, exhibit and event center turned the Augusta Commission into a house divided Tuesday -- divided along racial and super district lines and split over whether the TEE center's cost has ballooned to unreasonable proportions.

Commissioners on both sides sat out of meetings, first the black super District 9 commissioners skipping a special called-meeting, then all the white, super District 10 commissioners except Joe Jackson skipping regularly scheduled committee meetings.

Then the five black commissioners held a joint news conference at the base of the Lady Justice statue outside the Municipal Building, standing side by side as Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Mason read a four-page prepared statement and taking no questions afterward. The statement took issue with how they've been portrayed by the news media and said they "will not succumb to the threats, fear, and intimidation that some including members of the Commission and the press has tried in the last week or so."

Mr. Mason went on to say that some commissioners have threatened to rescind the $1-a-night hotel fee -- devised in a 2007 compromise to fund both TEE center operating costs and inner-city neighborhood revitalization -- and to campaign against the special-purpose sales tax package currently before voters.

"That's no threat; that's a promise," District 10 Commissioner Don Grantham said later. "I'm not gonna' beat around the bush."

Tuesday's 11:30 a.m. meeting had been called in an effort to reach a compromise on a TEE center funding structure before the SPLOST referendum on June 16. A meeting Thursday was canceled because Mr. Mason and Corey Johnson -- at the time considered key to getting six or more votes -- had left town.

After Mayor Deke Copenhaver declared that Tuesday's meeting had no quorum, City Administrator Fred Russell went over his financing proposal again, saying it's too early for a "death knell" and that dialogue continues.

Commissioner Joe Bowles told Mr. Russell that he appreciated his optimism but that it's been four years since voters approved $20 million for a TEE center in the last SPLOST referendum.

"What else can you give away to sell this thing?" he said. "I've been down here twice and people haven't showed up to vote on it, so it's obviously not going to happen."

Mr. Bowles said that, based on an opinion from the city's Law Department, if the city continues collecting the hotel fee without building the TEE center, it might be in violation of article 9 of the Georgia Constitution.

"If a private citizen won't do it, I will file an injunction," he said.

The legal opinion says the absence of the TEE center doesn't necessarily unravel the hotel fee. The commission would have to show that the fee is being used to generate tourism and fund public transportation. Otherwise, the city would be vulnerable to a lawsuit for imposing an unauthorized tax, the opinion says.

As Mr. Mason has pointed out, terminating the fee would also take six votes.

His statement suggested that the black commissioners aren't against building the TEE center; they just aren't ready to commit more money to it.

The 2007 agreement involved $20 million for its construction, but at one point an architect backed out, saying it would take at least double that. Mr. Grantham said Tuesday that the $20 million was only "seed money."

Mr. Russell's proposal, which failed May 5 by a vote of 5-4-1, called for an assortment of bonds and rerouted revenue streams to fund a $38 million TEE center and a $17 million parking deck. Separate bonds would start inner city revitalization, which would get $37.5 million over 50 years from hotel fees.

Mr. Russell's plan also called for a new Urban Redevelopment Authority to issue the bonds, but to satisfy District 9 commissioners the authority was removed and the cost of the parking deck was shrunk to $12 million.

The statement read Tuesday said Ms. Beard has been quoted out of context saying it's the wrong time to move forward considering the dismal economy.

"Ms. Beard was referencing this new proposal which added an additional $35 million to the TEE Center project which would now total over $72.5 million when you throw in operating and capital improvement costs," Mr. Mason said.

The $72.5 million figure is a calculation based on the hotel fee generating $350,000 a year for TEE center operations for 50 years -- a total of $17.5 million in addition to the $38 million building and the $17 million parking deck. While the fee was designed to raise $750,000 a year for 50 years for the inner city, Mr. Russell said Tuesday that the $350,000 would taper off over time as the TEE center became self-sustaining. What doesn't go toward the exposition center or the inner city goes to public transit.

The black commissioners' statement also questioned "why the self-imposed deadline to pass this proposal before May 28th?" Neither Mr. Grantham nor Mr. Russell knew the significance of that date. Mr. Russell said he did want to resolve the TEE issue before the SPLOST vote, though.

"There is an expectation by some," the commissioners' statement said, "that we should just vote yes and pass this proposal with no discussion. It is imperative that we do our due diligence for this community, the taxpayer and all citizens of Richmond County."