Audio clip
Linda Bennett
Chattanooga Police Chief Freeman Cooper said Wednesday that his department is asking for 10 more officer positions to be funded in the upcoming fiscal year budget.
Chief Cooper told City Council members that the request, which would bring the department to 482 funded positions, would get it closer to its goal of a 500-person force.
“It’s not a wish,” he said of the requested officer spots. “It’s a must.”
The Police Department has 472 funded positions, but 22 of those are unfilled, according to the presentation to City Council members Wednesday morning.
The Chattanooga Police Department’s presentation ended the first day of departmental budget hearings. The three-hour session also included presentations from the Department of Education, Arts and Culture and the Department of Public Works.
Councilwoman Linda Bennett, chairwoman of the Budget, Finance and Personnel Committee, said the hearings — new this year — are designed to educate council members about departmental needs during the beginning stages of the budget process.
“On the very front end there is dialogue,” she said.
City Chief Financial Officer Daisy Madison said the budget requests submitted by department heads do not take into account any future pay increases.
The next fiscal year will begin July 1.
Ms. Madison said after the meeting that given generally tough economic times, the 2008-2009 year could be a tight fiscal one for the city. She said she is anticipating lower growth in funding streams such as sales tax and property tax revenue.
But she said the administration will try to avoid a tax increase for the next fiscal year.
“We will try to put together a budget given the current tax base that we have,” she said.
Lee Norris, deputy administrator of Public Works, told council members his department is asking for a 24 percent funding increase in the area of fuel, labor and parts. He said that need largely is due to rising gas and diesel prices.
“We try to plan for the best case, but this is a gotcha,” he said. “Unfortunately we’re going to have to spend more money on fuel.”
Mr. Norris said the department also will have to deal with higher costs for other expenses, such as street lighting and materials such as asphalt.
Meanwhile, Education, Arts and Culture Administrator Missy Crutchfield said the department tried to cut back in parts of its budget. She said there were reductions in the proposed budgets for facilities such as the Heritage House in East Brainerd and the North River Civic Center.
“Some things are just very, very difficult if not impossible to reduce, but we feel like we’ve done it … to have a successful year,” Ms. Crutchfield said.
WHAT’S NEXT
City of Chattanooga departmental budget hearings continue this morning at the City Council’s conference room at 1000 Lindsay St. Here is the meeting schedule:
* Personnel — 9 a.m.
* Fire — 10 a.m.
* Parks and Recreation — 11 a.m.
Source: City of Chattanooga
BUDGET REQUESTS
Here are the requested budgets from the three departments that presented to City Council members Wednesday. These are proposed figures for the upcoming 2008-2009 fiscal year as compared to actual budgets for the current fiscal year. These figures do not include any future pay increases:
* Police: requested $42,949,991 (1.7 percent increase from the current budget)
* Education, Arts and Culture: requested $2,398,533 (1.3 percent increase from the current budget)
* Public Works: requested $33,111,179 (8.3 percent increase from the current budget)
