Council budget committee considers hiring Dr. Acuff for five- and ten-year fiscal forecast; vote deferred

The Chattanooga City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee on Oct. 21 reviewed a proposal to hire "Dr. Acuff," an associate professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, to create a five‑year financial plan, a 10‑year general fund forecast and a fiscal‑health assessment for the city. The committee agreed to defer a formal vote until the council’s next meeting to allow members time to review the contract terms and proposed scope.

Committee chair Councilwoman Dotley said the proposal is intended to give the council a single, searchable toolkit of revenue and expenditure projections, benchmarks and policy recommendations to inform long‑term decisions. "The purpose of it . . . is to provide revenue and expenditure projections, benchmarks, and measures of fiscal health, identify trends in peer cities, and offer policy recommendations to support Chattanooga’s long‑term growth and future financial planning for city council consideration," Dotley said.

The engagement as proposed would deliver a comprehensive five‑year financial plan, a detailed 10‑year general fund forecast, analysis of fiduciary and pension funds (high‑level, non‑actuarial), a fiscal‑health assessment and written policy recommendations. The original cost estimate in the packet was $16,800; council members discussed increasing that ceiling. Councilman Clark suggested approving the contract at an hourly rate of $200 with an amount not to exceed $20,000 so the consultant could provide additional hours during budget season if needed. Council members agreed to take a vote on that motion next week.

Sponsor Councilman Henderson framed the work as an attempt to avoid the council’s past pattern of occasional, large adjustments by creating year‑by‑year expectations. "As Yogi Berra once said, 'it's hard to make predictions, especially about the future,' but somehow we've got to figure out what we can anticipate and so that we can address it year by year instead of waiting," Henderson said.

Dr. Acuff described the proposed methodology as a combination of historical audit data, peer‑city benchmarking and scenario forecasting. He told the committee he would rely principally on the city’s annual comprehensive financial report and other standard financial records the administration already produces, and he included meetings and presentations in the deliverables. He said the draft report was expected by Jan. 6 in the proposal but that schedule could accommodate a short delay if the council preferred to vote next week. "One of them was a sort of a medium and longer term financial outlook," Dr. Acuff said when summarizing the planned scope.

Members pressed several substantive questions during the discussion: how deeply the consultant would analyze pension valuation assumptions (Dr. Acuff said the work would be high level and not replace actuarial reports), whether the administration would provide timely access to source data (Chief of Staff Kevin Roy said administration staff had already met with a council working group and that the city is "happy to work with you"), and whether the council should invest in permanent in‑house research staff instead of contracting (several members, including Councilman Elliott, urged exploring an internal research capacity over time).

Committee members noted specifics from the packet: the proposal estimated roughly 84 hours of work and identified deliverables and a draft schedule; the funding source would be the council’s contractual services allocation (the packet showed roughly $100,000 available in that line). Several council members requested that the final contract include money for follow‑up presentations and meetings during the budget process.

Next steps: the committee agreed to hold the vote on the contract at the next council meeting. If approved, the consultant would begin work and aim to deliver the draft forecast and toolkit by early January, with follow‑up meetings for council briefings.

"This is something that we've wanted to see and wanted to do for quite some time," Dotley said during the meeting, urging members to review the packet before the next vote.