Tenn. Police Seek $5.5M Budget Boost for Raises, Fleet Expansion
What to know
- The Chattanooga Police Department is requesting a $5.5 million budget increase for fiscal 2027, largely driven by cost-of-living raises and expanded vehicle expenses.
- A 3% pay raise accounts for most of the personnel increase, continuing efforts to stay competitive after previous low salaries and a once 23% vacancy rate that has now dropped to near full staffing.
- Budget shifts moving 9-1-1 operations, animal services and camera contracts out of the department make the proposal appear smaller, though actual police spending is rising.
The Chattanooga Police Department has asked for a $5.5 million increase in the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, most of which is accounted for in cost-of-living raises and vehicle expenses, including adding a fleet specialist position.
The proposed budget was presented to the City Council in early May, and departments have been coming before the council in budget education sessions throughout the month to explain their asks.
The Police Department's proposed budget appears to be a reduction of about $3 million, but that is not an apples-to-apples comparison, Police Chief John Chambers told the council during his budget presentation May 12.
Until the upcoming fiscal year, the budgets for 911 — both police and fire — and McKamey Animal Center were tucked into the Police Department's budget. The fiscal year 2027 budget moved both to different line items, a change that gives the appearance of a decrease.
To accurately reflect the change in the Police Department's budget, Weston Porter, the finance officer for the city, removed 911 and McKamey from the previous years' budgets.
The personnel budget increase came in at just under $4.8 million, much of which will go to a 3% cost-of-living raise throughout the department.
Following a property tax increase approved by the city in September, the lowest salary for an officer increased from $48,200 to $58,700, according to a salary analysis by the Chattanooga Times Free Press in January. The department had been advocating for raises in order to be competitive with surrounding agencies, Chambers said in the budget hearing. In August 2025, the department posted a table that showed the Chattanooga police salary was the only salary below $50,000.
When Chambers became chief, the department had a 23% vacancy rate. At the time of the budget education session, he told council members there were two vacant sworn positions.
"I committed to you all that I would give my 110%, that one, I knew that we needed to make some changes from a leadership culture perspective. And then I needed y'all's help, right?" Chambers said to the council members. "And you provided that last year, so that we had competitive salary."
Chambers said he never wants the department to be in that position again, and the way to keep from going back to that point is the 3% cost-of-living adjustment.
The increases in the fleet budget come from the increased number of police officers on the street, Chambers said. In 2021, the fleet budget was cut due to difficulty obtaining vehicles because of the chip shortage at the time, as well as the lack of officers to put in the vehicles.
Also, there was a fleet specialist in the past, but that position was changed to an open data analyst after the person in the position retired. Chambers asked to reinstate the position, with the responsibilities of keeping track of which officer is driving what vehicle, maintenance schedules and the equipment inside the vehicles.
There was also a $1.4 million decrease in the operations budget. The line item was for the department's body camera and car camera contract. It was moved to the Department of Technology Services budget. The price of the contract increased to around $2.5 million, Porter said.
The public hearing for the budget is set for June 2.
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