Henderson proposes $5 million placeholder in FY26 budget for sworn police, fire pay

Chattanooga City Council held a detailed discussion of the proposed FY26 operating budget and a Councilman-led amendment to set aside $5,000,000 as a placeholder for sworn police and fire compensation.

Councilman Henderson proposed the change, saying it would "create a new account called earnest money for sworn fire and police compensation into which we would put the $5,000,000." He described the amendment as a temporary step to show the city has "skin in the game" while the administration and council continue negotiating a fuller funding plan.

The amendment would reallocate $5,000,000 from the budget's contingency and renewal-and-replacement (R&R) pools into the new sworn-compensation account. Chief of Staff Kevin, speaking for the administration, framed the move within overall budget constraints, noting the council must adopt a budget before the end of the fiscal window and that the administration is presenting a March operating budget. Kevin said the city has recorded "22 and a half percent cumulative inflation" since 2022 and noted that the purchasing power of a previously enacted $317,000,000 budget would be about $359,000,000 today.

Council members voiced support for using a placeholder to preserve momentum on the budget while creating time to negotiate larger pay increases. Councilwoman Donley said she appreciated Henderson "digging deeper" and voiced support for securing funding so police and fire "are taken care of." Councilman Davis cautioned against raiding contingency and R&R funds for the purpose, saying those funds are "a basis of just good management" and that the council will need to work through priorities and trade-offs.

Council members discussed the broader dollar target for sworn compensation that has circulated in prior sessions—Henderson said the city has been "anchored against a total dollar figure of $20,000,000" and that some have asked the city to fund half of that amount. Henderson also said he has not yet seen a collectively palatable path to a city-funded $10,000,000 contribution and that the proposed $5,000,000 would be a good-faith start while giving the council time to find the remainder.

On procedure, staff said they could "prepare an alternate version" of the budget ordinance that incorporates the amendment language; the council requested legal staff to work on precise ordinance language and agreed the amendment language should be read into the meeting minutes or included as an alternate ordinance prior to votes. No formal motion to adopt the amendment or final vote on the amended budget occurred on the record in this session; council members indicated they expected to return with a revised ordinance or an amendment to vote on in a future public meeting.

The discussion repeatedly distinguished three steps: (1) adopt a balanced FY26 budget now to avoid negative operational impacts of a continuing resolution, (2) place $5,000,000 in a sworn-compensation placeholder account to demonstrate the city's commitment, and (3) continue negotiations between the council and administration to determine if and how the city can increase that contribution toward the larger figure previously discussed.

Council directions recorded in the meeting included staff preparing an alternate budget version with the $5,000,000 placeholder, legal drafting ordinance language for insertion before readings as needed, and the clerk reading the amendment language into the minutes if offered on the floor. No formal vote or final adoption of the amendment was recorded during the meeting.