The City Council today will consider whether to approve a $230 million operations budget - one that does not call for a tax increase - for Chattanooga.
The body has held weekly public workshops to discuss it since Mayor Andy Berke presented the 2017 budget in mid-May.
Chattanooga City Councilman Larry Grohn listens to a presentation on the city's wastewater infrastructure during an afternoon agenda session at the City Council building Tuesday, March 29, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The council voted Tuesday to withdraw its subpoena of District Attorney Neal Pinkston, which the council issued after Pinkston's refusal to appear before the council to discuss the city's violence reduction initiative.
Carol Berz 2014
In this 2015 file photo, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke speaks to members of the Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial board.On Monday, council members shared their thoughts about the budget.
Councilwoman Carol Berz, who is chairwoman of the panel's Budget and Finance Committee, described the review process as "seamless."
"It has been fully inclusive, and we have had some really good discussions," Berz said. "We've had a lot of input from the public, and we welcome that."
Councilman Chris Anderson, vice chairman of the committee, called the comprehensive review the "most transparent and efficient review of the budget by this council," citing numerous interviews with department heads and other city staff.
Berke's proposed operating budget allocates $102 million - more than 44 percent of the operating budget total - to public safety. Chattanooga's police and fire departments are set to receive $63.5 million and $38.8 million, respectively.
The police budget includes new tools for combating gang-related violence, such as a $700,0000 intelligence center that incorporates public safety cameras and other data to assess criminal activity in real time. The police department will continue to fund 486 police officers.
Commissioner Larry Grohn voiced staffing concerns about the fire department budget, citing safety issues and echoing comments previously made by Councilman Ken Smith. Both questioned why fire trucks regularly deploy with three firefighters instead of four.
"If a situation goes south in a fire, it's a tragedy waiting to happen," Grohn said.
The department now employs 393 firefighters and plans to fill 18 open positions this September, spokesman Bruce Garner said in an email. The budget proposal includes no additional positions.
Grohn also criticized budgets related to nonprofit workforce development programming, indicating he has had problems getting data about their effectiveness in some cases.
Berz praised the budget's attention to economic development, especially social and educational initiatives to better prepare students for the workforce.
As part of that commitment, the budget calls for a $9.5 million operating budget for Chattanooga's Youth and Family Development, Anderson said. That figure represents a $500,000 boost over the 2016 budget for the department, which provides educational, recreational, career development, leadership and social service opportunities.
The 2017 capital budget, scheduled to be formally presented to the council today, includes a $6 million expansion of the Avondale Youth and Family Development center.
Other operational budget items include improvements to Chattanooga's 311 system, which handles requests for city services such as trash and brush pickup and complaints about abandoned cars and overgrown properties.
It also recommends the employment of an administrative hearing officer, who can levy $500 fines as a means of combating blighted neighborhood properties.
"A budget tells you what an organization is about," Berz said, who invited the public to view the documents online at Chattanooga.gov.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @pleach_tfp.