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Chattanooga: City looks to limit spending

By: Cliff Hightower
(Contact)

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Dan Page

Worries of a troubled economy hit the Chattanooga City Council this week as council members discussed ways to pinch pennies, including whether $8.50 per car wash is a good deal.

Some City Council members said news of worldwide markets plunging and job losses in the region mean scrutinizing every penny coming out of city coffers.

“It’s starting to play a major role,” Councilman Dan Page said Friday. “The council has a whole different agenda before us now.”

Several council members questioned city spending during a meeting Tuesday night, going over such items as spending $150,000 to help buy property along Stringer’s Ridge and develop it as a public park and spending $8.50 per city car for inside-and-out cleanings.

The council voted 6-2 with one councilman abstaining on giving a grant to the Trust for Public Land for the Stringer’s Ridge project. The council did not accept the bid, however, for the car washes and instructed the city to look at $5 car washes and also to have city employees clean out their own cars.

Although not in as much of a belt-tightening mode as city officials, Hamilton County officials said they’re concerned about the economy’s effect on their money. Money-saving plans will be discussed in the near future, officials said.

Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams, chairman of the commission's Finance Committee, said there’s no specific plan yet, but the committee will be looking at cost-saving measures.

“We’ve talked about it a little,” he said.

In Tuesday’s City Council meeting, questions were raised about more than $50 million in bonds the city has approved in the last two months. Part of the money is slated for site preparation at Volkswagen auto plant at Enterprise South industrial park and part of it will go to citywide capital improvement projects. City officials said the finance department was in the middle of issuing the bonds, but would wait until after the presidential election to see if the economy rebounds.

Council Chairwoman Linda Bennett said there is a “sense of caution,” but warned that too much focus on minuscule items can take away from the big picture and larger items, where heavy spending actually occurs.

“It’s important we don’t panic and overreact,” she said.

Chip Headrick, owner of King of Kleen car wash in East Brainerd, said he was one of the four car-wash companies putting in bids for city service. Cutting costs may save tax dollars, but it also may compound the economic problem, he said. Less money coming into his business may mean laying off an employee and one more person hurt by the economic downturn, he said.

“It’s a domino effect,” he said.

Councilman Jack Benson said Friday that he always has been fiscally conservative but seeing others on the council “tighten the belt” was good to see.

“As households go, we go,” he said. “Households are tightening and we’re going to have to.”

Mr. Benson said a reassessment of expenditures was needed until the council could see “daylight through this threatening economy.”

Councilman Leamon Pierce agreed.

“I look at it as: If it were my money, would I be investing at these times?” he said. “Today, the sun is shining. But the sun don’t shine every day.”

Staff Writer Matt Wilson contributed to this report.

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