An opening salvo of debate on the city's proposed 33 percent property tax increase led Tuesday to talk of fireworks and medical reform and a host of Chattanooga Tea Partiers telling the council they wanted no new taxes.
"Go into survival mode," Londie Wallin, owner of Chattanooga-based Master Machines, told council members Tuesday night.
About 50 people walked into the City Council meeting room Tuesday night in protest of Mayor Ron Littlefield's proposed 64-cent property tax hike. Many of them wore T-shirts denoting themselves as affiliated with the Chattanooga Tea Party.
One protester held a sign saying, "I am the taxpayer, I am here to help."
Mark West, president of the Chattanooga Tea Party, told council members that businesses have had to cut during the recession and city government should, as well. He used the example of Starbucks, saying that company shuttered some of its locations instead of raising prices on its drinks.
"If you go along with this tax increase, you're not looking at a small recession," he said. "You're not looking at a medium or large. You're talking about a big gulp recession."
COUNCIL STARTS DEBATE
The Budget, Personnel and Finance Committee of the City Council met Tuesday for an early session to start talks about the proposed $198.6 million 2010-2011 fiscal year budget. The first topic centered around questions concerning $15.5 million the city is putting this year into a retired employee benefit program called Other Post Employment Benefits.
The city now funds this as a lifetime benefit for employees. Daisy Madison, the city's chief financial officer, stressed to council members that if they chose to reform the benefit, cutting any new employees off at the time of Medicare eligibility, the city would not see any savings right now.
The fund spans a 30-year period and any current employees are vested in the current program, she said.
Council members said they understood they have a "moral" obligation to fund benefits for these employees. Councilwoman Pam Ladd said it was "ludicrous" to be paying employees medical benefits until "death do we part."
"I do understand we have to fund what we have right now," she said. "But I want to stop the bleeding."
City officials estimate they would have to put $15 million each year into the program over the next 10 years as a startup for a $148 million trust fund for the program.
Council members said they wanted a single day to talk about benefits and plan to talk about it more in-depth in three weeks.
PLENTY OF FIREWORKS
Debate on city funding also bled into whether the city could afford to pay for the Coolidge Park 4th of July Festival.
The city has been paying Chattanooga Downtown Partnership to put on the event. After the partnership dissolved earlier this year, the city cut off funding to it and its parent company, RiverCity Co. The city then planned to reallocate $40,000 to Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga for that company to help host the Pops in the Park event.
BUDGET HEARINGSThe City Council will discuss parts of the budget over the next three weeks, looking at specific areas to cut. Those talks will involve:* June 1: City departments* June 8: City-supported agencies* June 15: Employee benefitsSource: City Council
Kim White, RiverCity Co.'s chief executive, told the council the money was reimbursement for events held in the winter and not for Pops in the Park.
A proposal was made by Ms. White for the $40,000 to be allocated to Allied Arts and an additional $40,000 to be allocated to RiverCity Co. in next fiscal year's budget.
Councilman Jack Benson objected to the proposal, saying the council was trying to find ways to cut next year's budget, not add to it.
"We're trying not to lock into a tax increase that's unbearable," he said.
Councilwoman Deborah Scott agreed.
"If we don't have fireworks this year, you can come out to my district," she said. "It's been going on for two weeks, and it's because of this budget."
The council voted 6-2 Tuesday night to reallocate the money to Allied Arts. Mr. Benson and Ms. Scott voted against the measure.
The council will meet again next week and begin talks about potential cuts to city departments.
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