I believe that, for the most part, we all agree that our police and fire departments (along with teachers) are among the most essential professionals in our community. They also hold the unfortunate status of being some of the most underpaid and under-appreciated. At the end of the day, no matter the pay or community sentiment, they show up when called to do a job the majority of us simply won't.
The city administration plans to use police and firefighter raises as a justification for a large property tax increase.
Unfortunately, if history is any guide, what will likely happen is that the mayor and his administration's "pet projects" will get funded, and our brave first responders will be back begging for scraps in another year or so.
Instead of the blank-check property tax increase they're hoping for, let's propose an alternative: earmark a fund that goes directly and exclusively towards fire and police salaries and NOTHING ELSE.
According to census data, there are over 81,000 households in Chattanooga.
A $250 yearly fee per household would raise over $20,000,000 for first responder pay. This would provide a $3,000,000 cushion over the $17,000,000 they have requested.
We already have a stormwater fee added to our property taxes, and other municipalities have sanitation and various city service fees. Earmarking this money exclusively for our police and fire departments shouldn't be a problem if the administration genuinely intends for the money to be used for the reason they're selling it to us.
This proposal would be a win not only for our police and fire departments, but also for Chattanoogans. It ensures better pay for those who truly need it, while also stopping the constant hemorrhaging of money into "pet projects," questionable baseball stadiums, underperforming TIFs, more broken promises about fixing the homelessness problem and any other "limousine liberal" waste our current administration can concoct.
Send a firetruck to my house, and I'll gladly send my kids out there with a check in hand. I believe most of us would do the same and be happy to do it if we knew our money was being used for something that genuinely benefits our city.
Believe me, I am not a fan of any type of tax increase. The misuse and waste by all our local governments should be sickening to all of us. The problem for us as property owners is that we don't get to vote on raising taxes. We must be vocal and demand that any additional money they come to us for goes precisely where we need it to go.
Brad Wardlaw