City Council Meeting: Budget Schedule, Amendment, and Wastewater Project - May 5, 2026
City Council Meeting: Budget Schedule, Amendment, and Wastewater Project - May 5, 2026
The council met on May 5, 2026, to discuss the proposed FY27 budget education session schedule, a budget amendment for the Raccoon Mountain water project, and a presentation on the Class A power project at the wastewater plant. No public comments were heard.
Discussion Items
- FY27 Budget Education Sessions: Councilman Henderson presented a proposed schedule for budget education sessions. Sessions were set for Tuesday, May 12 and Tuesday, May 19, originally from 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM, with a break. Henderson proposed that committee chairs lead discussions for their respective budget areas to increase familiarity. Council members expressed support, with Councilwoman Hill noting that affordable housing would be included under economic development. The council agreed to start at 9:00 AM on May 19 to accommodate an afternoon strategic planning session with David Denmark about the Provident Place Airport project. A follow-up meeting for any outstanding questions was scheduled for Tuesday, May 26.
- Budget Amendment for Raccoon Mountain Water Project: Councilman Henderson introduced a proposed budget amendment to transfer $3.5 million in surplus revenue from the FY26 operating budget to the capital budget for the Raccoon Mountain water project. Henderson noted that revenues from interest, sales tax, and permit fees exceeded projections, and that the funds would be used to extend water service to residents in his district who rely on failing wells. The project has agreements with TVA, which requires funding in place before construction can begin. Construction is expected to start in October or November 2026 when bats leave the trees. The council discussed the need for a presentation detailing the number of residents impacted, future development potential, and the timeline. It was agreed to hold a presentation on May 12, with the public hearing on May 19 at the beginning of the meeting, first reading on May 26, and second reading on June 2. Chief Financial Officer Weston clarified that the $3.5 million represents about half of the projected surplus ($6.3 million), leaving a cushion for the remainder of the fiscal year. An additional $1.3 million had already been set aside, bringing total funding to $4.8 million.
- Class A Power Project (Wastewater Plant): Mark Heinzer, wastewater department administrator, presented the Class A power project, which aims to upgrade the Moccasin Bend wastewater plant. The project has two main components: (1) liquid process upgrades – decommissioning the aging oxygen plant (built 1980s) and installing an Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) system with new blowers, and (2) biosolids process upgrades – building four new anaerobic digesters, installing methane recovery systems, and a biosolids dryer. The project will convert Class B biosolids to Class A, reducing volume from 70,000 tons per year to 7,000–10,000 tons, eliminating odors, and enabling potential revenue from sale of biochar. Methane recovery will generate electricity, reducing the plant's $3–4 million annual energy bill. Heinzer noted the consent decree (2013) is on track for completion ahead of the 2030 deadline, with 90–95% of chronic overflows eliminated. Project costs: liquid upgrades $70–80 million, biosolids upgrades $130–150 million. Funding includes a $68 million down payment from savings and low-interest loans. The schedule calls for generators to arrive December 2026 (phase one), with full completion in phases over several years. Council members asked about dissolved oxygen levels, commercialization of biosolids, risk of technology failure (reference to a previous failed filter press), and long-term rate impacts. Heinzer assured that the digestion technology is proven, and the dryer is contracted with performance guarantees; if it fails, the digested product remains improved. Councilwoman Dotley praised the financial planning, and Councilman Harder inquired about maintaining funding for ongoing maintenance post-consent decree.
Key Outcomes
- The council approved the adjusted budget education session schedule (May 12 and May 19, starting at 9:00 AM on May 19) and the process for committee chairs to lead discussions.
- Councilman Henderson will present the Raccoon Mountain water project details on May 12, with a public hearing on May 19 and readings on May 26 and June 2.
- The wastewater project presentation was received; no formal action was taken, but council members expressed support and requested further information on revenue potential and rate impacts.
Meeting Transcript
From our last second. All right. Minutes will stand as published. So today we're going to be hearing first from Councilman Henderson, who's our budget chair for this upcoming budget year. He's going to talk to us about the proposed schedule. And then we have Mark Heinzer from our stormwater division here to talk to us about the class A. Wastewater. Sorry. No worries. About the Class A power project that they have going on at Mox and Ben. And that is our agenda for today. So with that being said, I'll turn it over to you, Councilman Henderson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Council, in your folders, you'll find a sheet of paper labeled FY27 budget education sessions schedule. Basically, what we'll do is start on Tuesday, May the 12th. Start at 10, go to 2 30. We will have a break. And then we'll do the same schedule on Tuesday, May the 19th. What what I would like to do, I'm going to try to do this a little bit differently than what we've kind of done in the past. I would like for each council chair of the particular budget of their particular committee to lead the discussion in the budget session. Okay. So that you become number one more familiar with the budget for your department that you're over or your chairing. And then I would like to develop this further. I I didn't want to take it too far this time, but I'd like to develop this further into maybe even breaking this out into small information sessions in the future where the committee chairs would be in charge of you know determining their time when they want to set it up. It doesn't necessarily, you know, I'd like to have it to where we didn't necessarily have to do it on a Tuesday and on go for so long. Maybe you know you want to schedule it at some point uh during the week, and and but uh and my thought would be to have uh council people assigned to different groups so that you could attend everyone if you wanted to, but if you didn't want to, you would uh just be in you know in in that small group. And then uh my thought was um on uh the 26th, any follow-up is needed, we would uh as a group come back and discuss uh maybe anything, any tweaks that needed to be made or or um uh concerns that needed to be addressed. So uh what I'm gonna ask the council to do is if you have questions, and by the way, we're going to get our uh budget books after the council meeting today. Uh but look at it, study it uh this weekend. If you have any questions about a particular item, email the council uh chair of that committee. Oh, of the committee of the committee, like um councilman Elliott's uh legislative, and if you'll look out to the side, his budget responsibilities would be city council judges and executive. So if you have questions about any of those budgets, email councilman Elliott, and then that way as he leads the discussion, he can uh propose those questions and hopefully get those answered uh questions answered. Uh same thing, Councilwoman Dotley, uh community development. If you have questions about community development, email councilwoman Dotley as she leads that session, uh she can present those questions as well. That way each um each chair of those committees is a little bit more involved in this budget process and hopefully uh gain a little bit uh broader knowledge uh of the budget, particularly the budget that your uh committee is in charge of. So are there any questions about this sheet of paper and maybe kind of how this thing is gonna work or flow? You do first of all, this is fantastic. I like this a bunch. Well, thank you. Uh this is very I mean, I like this a lot. So me and Councilwoman Hill have uh because affordable housing is of course house on the economic development. So we're both scheduled for that day. So do you want us to do like 30 minutes apiece or how do you want to gauge that? Um actually, and I'll be honest, I so that really uh affordable housing was just gonna be under economic development at as far as budget discussions was was going. Okay. So I guess we can share, I guess when it gets to that space. Yeah, I mean we could we could share that. Um obviously under economic development, we've got that budget uh portion in the hotel motel. Um and then you know that's that's the one thing that uh you know affordable housing is really important and I think it deserves its own time within our priorities.
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