County Mayor Claude Ramsey on Thursday morning asked the County Commission to raise the property tax rate by 55 cents, including 38 cents for the county schools and 17 cents for county government.
County spending would go from $472.4 million to $510.7 million. Requests had totaled $533.7 million.
County school spending would go from $274.2 million to $298.9 million. The county schools had asked $308.7 million.
The current county property tax rate is $3.06 per $100 of assessed valuation.
Mr. Ramsey said his proposed budget cut over $12.5 million of county requests and over $9 million of county school requests. There are also cuts to many supported agencies.
The budget includes an average 3 percent raise for county employees. That costs $2.6 million.
County Commission members had no comment on the request and did not ask any questions at the agenda session that was crowded by school supporters and by those wanting a new high school on Signal Mountain. Mr. Ramsey said the budget request did not address capital funds for the schools. He said the first focus needed to be on improving school operations.
Commission Chairman Curtis Adams said earlier that sentiment was running against a tax increase. Commissioners Richard Casavant, William Cotton and JoAnne Favors are considered favorable toward an increase. Commissioners Fred Skillern, Lou Miller and Bill Hullander are considered opposed. Commissioners Charlotte Vandergriff and Larry Henry are considered swing votes. Commissioner Adams has indicated he may not go along with a tax boost.
Mr. Ramsey said his proposal includes $3 million for school maintenance. He said he would work for an interlocal agreement that would insure the schools could not use any of that money for other purposes.
He said the remainder of the new funds for the schools would go "to the classroom."
Mr. Ramsey said he is also asking the private sector to help pay for school improvement, but he said he wanted the County Commission to first adopt the goals of the recently completed Education Summit that he led.
The county mayor also referred to ongoing sparring between the County Commission and the County School Board, saying, "We need to tear down that wall that separates us."
He hit the state for making Hamilton County the bottom county on school funds received. He said to applause, "That has to change and it has to change now."
Mr. Ramsey said a county just to the north (Rhea County) "got $1,080,000 in new money from the state last year for teacher salaries while bragging that they haven't raised taxes in 15 years." He said Hamilton County is getting only $700,000 in new funding from the state. But he said a state-mandated teacher raise will cost over $3 million.
Mr. Ramsey said the school system "is not perfect," but he said it "has made a lot of progress."
He said the budget he submitted would make a start toward the goal of making the county schools a model system by 2008.
Mr. Ramsey said since the last tax increase five years ago that health insurance costs at the county are up almost $7 million and pension costs over $2.5 million.
He said adding security at the courthouses costs over $750,000 a year. He said that amount is being cut $180,000 in the proposed budget.
He noted that operations at the workhouse have been expanded and there is a new ambulance station.
Mr. Ramsey said the schools are facing over $7 million in higher health insurance and pension costs. He said the expense for School Resource Officers is some $800,000.
County Finance Director Louis Wright said the county used over $3 million from the fund balance to meet last year's budget, but was not planning to use any this year.
He said revenues are been overestimated by $2.2 million. He said it was "just 1 percent, but in a large budget it amounted to a large figure."
The 17-cent property tax increase for general government would bring in $9,044,000.
The budget includes $1.89 million in capital outlay items.
The budget proposes:
Medical Examiner $728,658 to $743,896
Clerk and Master $610,290 to $628,946
Circuit Court Clerk $842,481 to $838,025
County Clerk $$1,227,502 to $1,278,713
Register $283,771 to $338,332
Trustee $286,672 to $270,150
Assessor of Property $2,838,689 to $3,137,246
District Attorney $776,573 to $797,363
Election Commission $1,534,752 to $1,534,752
Criminal Court Clerk $937,425 to $987,729
Sheriff $$15,106,796 to $17,022,516
Public Defender $277,779 to $293,372
General Sessions Court $885,617 to $925,461
Criminal Court Judges $164,225 to $164,009
Chancery Court Judges same $10,500
Circuit Court Judges 226,331 to $218,369
Juvenile Court Clerk $910,556 to $997,390
Judicial Commissioners $248,083 to $260,901
Planning Commission $942,817 to $848,535
Air Pollution Control $188,548 to $169,693
Regional Council of Governments $57,107 to $61,579
Humane Educational Society $280,374 to $259,434
Chamber Economic Development same $400,000
Erlanger Medical Center same $3 million
Senior Neighbors $30,900 to $27,810
Public Library $2,405,725 $2,165,153
Scenic Cities Beautiful Commission $25,431 to $22,888
Convention and Visitors Bureau $2,321,168 to $2,329,945
Allied Arts $150,000 to $135,000
WTCI $30,000 to $27,000
CARTA $100,200 to $96,660
Sports Committee $75,000 to $67,500
Carter Street Corporation $1,189,390 to $1,033,448
Regional History Museum $28,000 to $25,200
Urban League $50,000 to $45,000
Bessie Smith Hall $64,000 to $57,600
African American Chamber of Commerce $75,000 to $67,500
The budget does not include funds for the Chattanooga Zoo, the Chattanooga Food Bank, Westside Community Development Center, Lighthouse Counseling and Life Skills Center, Caring Inc. and SJK of Chattanooga.
It includes $27,000 for Chattanooga Endeavors and $13,500 for the Homeless Coalition. Those had not previously been funded.
County Mayor's office $405,678 to $521,476
County Commission $549,083 to $510,654
County Chief of Staff $301,375 to $306,039
County Attorney $786,297 to $793,337
County Auditor $746,134 to $770,337
Personnel $522,257 to $470,073
Development $518,988 to $487,956
A Corrections Coordinator was added to the county mayor budget.