{"id":226136,"date":"2026-06-23T20:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/226136\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:30:53","slug":"chattanooga-city-council-passes-mayor-tim-kellys-budget-on-first-reading-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/226136\/","title":{"rendered":"Chattanooga City Council passes Mayor Tim Kelly\u2019s budget on first reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chattanooga\u2019s proposed budget for next year advanced Tuesday as City Council voted to approve Mayor Tim Kelly\u2019s spending plan on first reading.<\/p>\n

The package includes millions of dollars for transportation and infrastructure, parks and public safety.<\/p>\n

Kelly told council members he is trying to run a \u201clean operation\u201d while keeping property taxes flat. <\/p>\n

The budget would provide $10 million a year to improve road quality and $2.5 million for public transit improvements. <\/p>\n

Kelly also said the plan includes a citywide 3% cost-of-living raise for all employees.<\/p>\n

\"Image:\u201cAs you all know no budget is perfect but every budget reflects our true priorities,” Kelly said. “We made the tough trade offs to protect core municipal service through a relentless pursuit.”<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s vote was not final. The budget still must pass a second and final reading.<\/p>\n

Also Tuesday, the council took another step toward converting the long-vacant Airport Inn on Lee Highway into a shelter, unanimously voting to donate the former hotel to a nonprofit. <\/p>\n

The McClellan Foundation will help fund the project, and First Things First will run it.<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/p>\n

City leaders said the shelter will be reserved for struggling families with children, and the resolution lays out rules on who can be accepted once it is operational. <\/p>\n

The project is intended to help families who need a place to stay, including situations when mothers need to stay with their young sons, but don’t have a steady home to go to.<\/p>\n

Silverdale Baptist Academy is now a partner in the project after originally speaking out against it when the proposed structure was different.<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Jenni Berz voiced support for the resolution, at Tuesday’s meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it serves as a great model for how we address future opportunities to serve our homeless community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city previously pursued plans for the Airport Inn site. <\/p>\n

In 2021, Kelly proposed turning the building into affordable housing, but that plan fell through amid public outcry and cost concerns.<\/p>\n

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Depend on us to keep you informed as we learn more.<\/p>\n

WTVC<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chattanooga\u2019s proposed budget for next year advanced Tuesday as City Council voted to approve Mayor Tim Kelly\u2019s spending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-226136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}