City Councilman Chip Henderson on Tuesday floated the idea of eliminating curbside recycling as one way to help with current city budget woes.
He said it would save $1.3 million.
Mayor Tim Kelly was quick to respond in opposition.
He said, "Today in a City Council meeting, a proposal was put forward by Councilman Henderson to eliminate the city's recycling service. I want to be clear: I do not support this proposal and I don’t think the people of Chattanooga do either.
"It goes against who we are as America's first National Park City, and it doesn't make sense. Even using Councilman Henderson’s math, this elimination of a critical service would produce a budget savings of less than one half of one percent.
"As we work to find the significant funding we need to raise police and fire pay and keep Chattanooga safe, let's not lose sight of who we are today and who we want to be in the future. We don't need to eliminate our recycling program, we need to continue to improve it, and we will.”
Noting that administration officials said about $17 million was needed to cover needed fire and police raises, Councilman Henderson said he sought to find ways not to impose a large property tax increase all at once.
He said, "So that everybody takes a little bit of the hit, we could cut the curbside recycling, which is a relatively new service.
"It would not cause such a negative impact on our citizens. I'm extremely concerned about what this (large tax increase) is going to impose on them."
Councilman Henderson said, instead of one large tax increase, one option would be to have smaller increases over several years.
He said a three percent increase would generate about $5 million. He said on a $400,000 house the owner would pay an extra $50.
Another idea was to require one percent reductions across the board in city government for a savings of $1.9 millon.
The City Council will have another budget workshop next Tuesday morning.