IN OTHER BUSINESSThe City Council unanimously approved tax breaks for the Coca-Cola Bottling Co., which is set to build a new distribution center at the former Olan Mills site.City officials also voted to rezone the property to make way for the new facility. Chattanooga Coca-Cola has pledged to spend $62 million there and bring 43 new jobs to the city over the next year.If Hamilton County commissioners approve, the combined city and county tax incentives for Coca-Cola will total an estimated $5.9 million over the next 12 years. This agreement would give the company two years relief from paying property taxes, except for funds to the school system.
Chattanooga City HallPolice officers and firefighters will have to contribute more to their retirement plan starting July 1 and new recruits will be subject to a retirement age with Tuesday’s passage of Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke’s pension reforms.
The final City Council vote ushers in the fire and police pension reforms a year after Berke announced a plan to appoint a task force to study how to curb the city’s growing pension spending and address an unfunded liability that was among the state’s worst yet keep the plan on sound financial footing.
As a result, employee contributions will rise by nearly 40 percent and retirees’ cost-of-living adjustments will be reduced. Meanwhile, the city is expected to immediately save $5 million. Its unfunded liability is expected to improve by 10 percentage points — from about 60 percent to 70 percent — in the first year of changes.
Members of Berke’s 18-person task force that negotiated the deal said they are relieved that the months of back and forth and the tensions among the city, unions and the pension fund’s governing board are over. More importantly, the city was able to preserve a defined benefit plan, they said.