A move designed to set Chattanooga on better financial ground would mean shifting about $30 million out of the city’s general fund and into projects that include pension protection for first responders and capital investments in parks, public safety and housing.
The city’s general fund reserves sat at 43% of annual spending at the end of the past fiscal year, which closed June 30. Chattanooga’s finances are healthy, said Weston Porter, the city’s deputy chief financial officer. The city’s floor for the general fund is 15%, and the state recommends 16.6%, Porter said Tuesday during a Chattanooga City Council meeting. But holding so much cash in reserve can mean that the money isn’t used efficiently, Porter said.
The council is set to hold a public hearing and a vote next month on a supplementary budget city staff say would address those issues.
Mayor Tim Kelly said during the meeting that making city finance more efficient is a driver of the budget proposal.
“The good news is, we have been very conservative in the way that we run the budget. And that’s a good thing, for sure,” Kelly said. “My goal as mayor is to make sure that we’re running things in the most capital-efficient manner possible, and, frankly, we haven’t so much done that.”