With much respect to Mayor Tim Kelly who I personally like and have done business with in the past, I have to say that the proposed city budget should be voted down by every member of the City Council. It fails to include any pay increases for the Chattanooga's fire and police force, while the budget does provide increases in pay for other "non-sworn" city employees. This appears to be unequal treatment among groups or departments of city employees.
A few itemized examples from the proposed budget are listed in the article in The Chattanoogan.com on Tuesday, May 6. But the majority of the proposed budget is not disclosed. I would suggest to the City Council that a hiring freeze be put in place for all new positions in the city until the money can be made available to provide a meaningful raise to the men and women of the Fire and Police Departments. By meaningful, I mean 5-7 percent. Something noticeable in their paychecks.
All current positions within the city government should be critiqued strongly to be absolutely sure they are essential. Could a few positions be eliminated or phased out to help fund what is needed to free up the money needed for our first responders and in many cases life savers in the Fire and Police Departments? Mayor Kelly, please take a really hard look at this.
You cannot submit this budget in good faith with the hope that in a few months the city will look for some money to give raises to fire and police workers. That's just not good enough, Mayor Kelly, when these are the people Chattanooga turns to first to keep our city safe from all types of crime and danger. This is too big an omission in the proposed budget.
Reject it, City Council members.
Ward Crimmins
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Shame on the Mayor and any council member voting to not give pay increases to our police and firefighters. They are the priority period.
John Henegar
Chattanooga
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As the Kelly Administration outlined this week to the City Council, 59 percent of the proposed 2025-26 budget will support Chattanooga police, fire, and public works, to keep the government effective and responsive to meet the basic needs of residents. This budget continues to tackle Chattanooga’s structural challenges and sets our city on a path toward shared prosperity and common purpose.
That being said, the Administration does intend to come back later this year with a separate proposal to raise compensation for Chattanooga’s bravest men and women. As the mayor put it - "we simply must.”
Stephanie Cepak, spokesperson, city of Chattanooga