The Chattanooga City Council on Tuesday passed its $54.8 million capital improvements budget for fiscal year 2010-11 in a 6-3 vote.
The budget covers costs such as road paving.
Council members Peter Murphy, Russell Gilbert and Deborah Scott voted against the capital budget.
Gilbert said he thought the capital budget left “some things not taken care of.”
Scott said she voted against the capital budget because she did not think it properly prioritized the city’s spending.
“Infrastructure is a big, big desire for the residents in my district,” she said. “We have so many roads that are in terrible condition.”
The budget does not contain money for a controversial parking garage for TVA employees and other downtown workers. Mayor Ron Littlefield had told council members the city would delay funding until “we get the total package together.” The council also cut out a downtown police station.
Another item not given additional funding was improving the Wilcox Boulevard Tunnel. Councilwoman Carol Berz and Littlefield said the $750,000 already allocated for the project would cover $350,000 worth of safety improvements, according to City Engineer Bill Payne.
Payne said the tunnel is undersized for today’s needs.
He said the rest of the money will fund a corridor and geotechnical study.
Littlefield said the Wilcox Tunnel project will provide a major link and unstop a traffic bottleneck.
“What we’ve been working on for decades is an east-west thoroughfare,” Littlefield said.
Continue reading by following this link to a related story:
Article: Chattanooga: City Council voting again on capital budget