School board members Rhonda Thurman, left, and Karitsa Mosley listen as the Hamilton County Board of Education meets to rework their 2016 budget request Monday, June 1, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. That's because Tennessee is contributing more than expected toward employee pay. The state's extra money will almost completely fund the pay raise.
"It doesn't totally cover it," Finance Director Christie Jordan says. "[But] it comes close."
The raise should be some consolation to school employees, who stood to get a 5 percent pay and benefits increase under a budget that initially called for the county commission to boost the budget by $34 million annually. That would have required a 40-cent local tax increase, or $150 annually on a house worth $150,000. County Mayor Jim Coppinger shot the bigger budget down, and recently told the school board to pass a budget that wouldn't require a tax hike.
The school board did so by a 6-to-2 margin, partly by taking about $1 million from savings and using $1.7 million in liquor tax money the school district got in a settlement with the city of Chattanooga.
The county commission will consider the school budget early this week.