After residents of East Ridge spent close to two hours at Thursday night’s City Council meeting expressing concerns about the city’s proposed tax increases, the council surprised everyone in the room by voting to table the night’s vote on the first reading of the new budget.
Before the vote, Councilman Jim Bethune – who along with Councilman Denny Manning has been opposed to the tax hikes since they were proposed – suggested the council needed more time to survey the budget.
“Since we’ve had the people come up tonight, I think [the budget] should be looked at a lot closer before we pass any kind of taxes,” he said.
After Bethune and Manning voted to table the measure, Councilman Darwin Branam, who motioned for the tax hike in an agenda session earlier this week, voted with them – prompting gasps from the residents in the room and stunned looks from the other council members.
“I see no reason why we wouldn’t stop and go through it line item by line item,” said Branam afterward. “I don’t think they’re going to be able to find anything in there, especially not $600,000 dollars worth.”