Superintendent discusses next year’s Hamilton County Schools budget with Commission
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Next year’s proposed Hamilton County School budget was presented to the Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday.
Hamilton County School Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson held the presentation in the Commission’s Education Committee.
He says that in total it will cost about 673 million dollars, or 40 million less than last year.
Dr. Robertson said they are asking for about 21 million dollars from the county budget.
That did not stop some tense disagreements over how that will be funded over an hour long session.
Some commissioners say they’re concerned about how it’ll fit into their overall budget as funding from COVID programs begin to wane.
Commissioner Joe Graham asked, “And now by asking for more, and trying to increase your budget, are you asking for a tax increase?”
Chairman Jeff Eversole added, “I’m not talking about just the school system, I’m thinking about the Health Department. This money that we’re used to being there, that’s no longer going to be there anymore. We’re going back to ground zero.”
The superintendent presented data that showed that the amount of local property tax revenue going to the school board has been going down.
He says that the percentage has dropped from 54% of all property tax revenue in 2008 to 43% last year.
Some commissioners felt that this was a slight at them.
Commissioner Warren Mackey was among those who said, “It’s being portrayed like we are not doing our jobs in funding the schools. It feels like and sounds like what commitment we have made to the schools has not been enough.”
Dr. Robertson reassured the commission he was not trying to antagonize them by saying, “What is displayed in the numbers is that the percentage of that investment locally has declined over the years. That doesn’t mean that the gross number has declined.”
There were also spirited conversations over the budget at large, and how to best measure the school budget versus other county needs.
In one exchange between Commissioner David Sharpe and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp, Commissioner Sharpe asked the Mayor, “Why don’t we have that conversation? It’s worthy of conversation? I mean as we go through the budget process, what do we have to spend, and what is discretionary?”
Mayor Wamp answered, “We think about those conversations every day, on every subject.”
Commissioner Sharpe responded, “I’m not suggesting that you don’t Mayor. All I’m suggesting is that ultimately, the Commission is responsible for approving and disapproving the budget.”
This is an initial step of the budgeting process, as the Commission will likely not vote on a new budget until June.
They plan to meet with the Hamilton County School Board to talk about the budget further.
