County Commissioner Joe Graham said he wants voters to have a say on County Commission pay.
He said commissioners "deserve to be paid at a certain level."
Commissioners currently make $22,786. The chairman gets $27,786 and the vice chairman $25,286.
Commission pay as well as that of the mayor of Chattanooga is tied to the pay of the county mayor. When the county mayor gets a raise, so do the commissioners and the city mayor.
Commissioner Graham called that "a genius plan," but he said a look needs to be taken on how much percentage of the county mayor the commissioners should get.
He said there might be several different levels of percentage raises for commissioners listed on the ballot.
He said he has spoken with several different legislators about commission pay, but it appears there will be no action on a bill this year.
County Commissioner Sabrena Smedley said, "I don't know what brought the commission pay issue up, but the majority of us don't run for the office based on compensation, but to have a positive impact on the community."
Commissioner Graham afterward said, "For the last several years some commissioners have asked our state legislators to remove commissioners' rate of pay from being a percentage of the mayor's pay.
"I am 100 percent totally against that.
"Many years ago former commissioners asked our state legislators to make the commissioners pay a percentage of the mayor's pay so commissioners had no control on their own compensation genius, transparent, its open and nothing about this legislative body setting their own pay. This should and must be up to the voters of our great county, not commissioners.
"I would like this to be put to bed once and for all, so that is why I recommended today that we put this on the next ballot if commissioners want it changed so then voters could decide. Openly and transparent, no more letters to ask our state legislators to change a law that was actually requested by Hamilton County Commissioners years ago.
"This is my opinion, I am only one vote on this elected body, so again I say leave the state law just like it is, and if any commissioners want this changed put it on our ballot in the next election."