East Ridge City Manager Tim Gobble on Thursday strongly urged the City Council to raise the hotel-motel tax from two percent to four percent.

Two council members, Darwin Branam and Larry Sewell, said they would support it during a discussion at an agenda session.

Mr. Gobble said it should bring $130,000 in revenue to the city.

He said, "It shifts some of the tax burden from the local residents to the people traveling through. I do not think there will be any damage to the motel owners or that they will lose any money."

Mr. Gobble said when he is looking for a motel he never asks the amount of the room tax.

Mayor Brent Lambert noted that one motel owner "made the threat" to convert to an extended stay if the room tax goes up. The city already has four extended stays. At those facilities, the room tax is only collected the first 30 days of a stay.

Councilman Jim Bethune said a motel owner told him he is planning $1 million in upgrades, but will not make the improvements if the room tax is increased.

Also at the agenda session, an auditor said the city has a retiree health insurance program richer than most other governments and Mr. Gobble said the current yearly leave buy back for employees is also unusual.

City employees can retire after working 25 years and get full health coverage in retirement.

Mr. Gobble said the leave buy back cost this year is $189,000.

Eddie Phillips, assistant city manager who is over fire and police, said it would be much more costly to do away with the benefit.

He said East Ridge is short 10 police officers and 15 firefighters, but he said the city gets by because the employees stay on duty rather than taking leave time. He estimated the cost at $1 million-$1.3 million in new personnel and overtime without the current setup.

Councilman Denny Manning said he favors leaving employee benefits like they are. He said, "We have great employees. If we cut off this and cut off that, we are cutting our own throats."

Councilman Bethune said he would like to see action on disposing of the swimming pool the city bought after a private group that operated it ran into financial trouble. He said the site is an eyesore with about 75 cats roaming the grounds. He said the pool has about four feet of water in it and the property is a liability.

The city is considering turning the property over to a realtor after having only one offer thus far.

East Ridge is also trying to determine what to do with the old McBrien School, which is falling into disrepair with numerous windows knocked out.

Mr. Gobble said the options range from using part of it for police headquarters or for an extension of the community center to tearing down half of it or demolishing all of it and having green space next to the City Hall campus.

The city manager said the city has a surplus of $209,000 halfway through the fiscal year and may finish with between $200,000 and $300,000.

He said he would like to see the city set a goal of paying off all it owes by 2024. He said the debt has been paid down from $8.8 million to $8.3 million.

Mr. Gobble said he wants to hire a new recreation director quickly. The council is expected to ratify his choice at the Feb. 9 meeting.