Chattanooga budget up for city council vote

The Chattanooga City Council plans to debate and vote on Mayor Andy Berke’s 2018 budget proposal today.

Council members have chewed over the $253 million operations budget — which boosts property tax revenues even though it knocks a few cents off the tax rate and includes an option to freeze tax bills for qualifying seniors — since they received it five weeks ago. Chattanooga property values have gone up by an average of 10.9 percent, and property tax bills are expected to go up.

The budget, which calls for $23 million more than what the city needed in 2017, faced a number of challenges to meet mandatory service levels and benefit commitments, Maura Sullivan, chief operating officer, said during the initial presentation to the council.

“This budget represents a lot of hard work, long hours and difficult discussions,” Sullivan said.

While the new budget does include service expansions, new programs and more positions, it required more money even if the city did not take on the additional expenses, she said.

Police and fire pensions, general pensions, medical cost and post-employment benefits require an additional $11.1 million over last year, City Finance Officer Daisy Madison told the council. The $5.1 million allocation to fire and police pensions represents a 38 percent increase over last year.

“This budget makes key investments in safety, families, neighborhoods, and our economy, which will continue to move Chattanooga forward,” Berke said in an email shortly after the council received the 2018 budget proposal.

Since the budget roll out, Berke has staged several media

tours to show a wide range of investments in the community, with stops at several affordable housing locales, the unveiling of Southside Community Park and a visit to the Chattanooga Public Library.

As for public safety, Berke has backed a 3 percent salary increase for all sworn police officers and a new gun crime unit, projected to cost $1.4 million and $1.7 million, respectively. The new unit calls for 14 new positions. Overall, the $70 million police department budget would grow by $6.5 million over last year.

The 2018 budget also proposes to boost economic development through three new positions intended to shepherd workforce development, reuse old industrial properties and assist entrepreneurs get up to $10,000 in interest-free loans. In all, the three positions amount to $260,000.

Chattanooga’s Department of Information Technology will also require some extra dollars to modernize. The department’s proposed $7.9 million budget is $1.2 million more than it spent last year.

Chief Information Officer Brent Messer said the city’s technological infrastructure was “still at bare bones minimums,” according to a document with budget-related questions and answers posted on the council’s webpage.

Spending for upgrades should level out over the next three to five years, he said.

The goal is to get Chattanooga’s software systems and network capabilities to within three years of the latest technology, Messer said. For the last three years, the city has been using 7-year-0ld technology. Prior to that, the technology was about 15-years-0ld, on average.

“The long-term outcome is a sustainable and mobile workforce of the 21st century,” Messer said.