CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The Chattanooga City Council once again had a tense discussion surrounding property tax rates.
This is due to a desire to raise the pay of first responders in the city.
Two dueling property tax rates seem to be at the forefront of the Chattanooga City Council’s considerations to raise police and firefighter pay.
One coming from Mayor Tim Kelly, and the other from Councilwoman Jenny Hill.
However, there were some concerns over some statements made during last week’s meetings that some council members are perceiving as a threat.
Mayor Kelly said during last week’s meeting, “I’ll get behind any one of you who gets behind it. The reverse is true.”
He had made the statement while proposing a 44 cent increase from the certified tax rate of $1.55 to set the adopted city property tax rate at $1.99.
This would be 26 cents less than the adopted tax rate in 2021 of $2.25, but the average Chattanooga homeowner would still see more than 400 dollars a year added to their average property tax bill.
Several council members said they heard from constituents concerned about those remarks from the mayor, leading to some tense back and forth in a committee session.
Councilman Cody Harvey told Mayor Kelly’s Chief of Staff Kevin Roig, “I think the mayor’s statement, from my standpoint, was a political threat, and I would like to give him the opportunity to clean that up.”
Roig responded, “Well you should call him, and he’d be happy to do that, but I’m not a politician. I’m not running for office. I’m just trying to do my job to move this conversation forward, and this isn’t a helpful dimension to that.”
During the regularly scheduled City Council meeting Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Kelly took a moment to address these concerns, saying he would not base any decisions based on how council members voted.
He said, “I just wanted to say if that offended anyone I am sorry. I certainly didn’t mean to threaten anyone… Again, I don’t come to work for my health. I come to work to make this the best city it can possibly be, and I have a very short period of time to get it done.”
On the other end of the spectrum, a proposal by Council Chair Jenny Hill would cap that rise by 12 cents, along with several cuts to the budget that save taxpayers hundreds of dollars.
More members who were present sided with Hill than the mayor.
However, Councilwoman Marvene Noel says she’s unhappy with Councilwoman Hill’s proposal to slash 15 percent of the Office of Community Development’s budget.
Noel said, “Chairwoman Hill’s proposal? I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever support that. If you are going to cut community development by $1.6 million-$1.7 million roughly, by 15 percent, no. That is the heartbeat, the main vein, of our community.”
Noel says she supports the mayor’s proposal to avoid future councils being in this position.
Councilman Ron Elliott says that he is planning to speak with residents in his district before deciding where to throw his support.
He said, “I’ve told my constituents that I try my hardest not to push all of this burden on taxpayers… As we go down this road of exploring additional cuts, we have to see what that looks like, because what I do not support is cutting people’s jobs and core operational costs.”
There will be a public budget hearing in two weeks on August 19, with an expected vote by the middle of September.
