The city of Chattanooga may be looking at smaller property tax increases every year instead of larger ones every four years after some officials suggested that process could offer more stability to municipal finances.
During a budget committee meeting Tuesday morning, Chattanooga City Council members met with Chris Acuff, a state-certified finance officer who specializes in public policy research.
They discussed Acuff’s financial projections for the city — which may aid calculations for annual property tax increases. The city has informally operated in the past on a four-year property tax increase schedule that aligns with when the city reverts back to a certified property tax rate, council members said. That process can strain city services in the stagnant years leading up to increase.
Acuff was commissioned by the City Council to assess the city’s finances and produce projections for expenditures over the next 10 years, as well as options for how tax revenue will increase or decrease during that same time period.
According to his analysis, if the city remains revenue neutral over the next decade — meaning the city would take in the same amount of money from taxes year over year despite higher home values — the gap between its annual expenditures and its revenue would be about $100 million by 2036.