Peer city study raises concerns about poverty in Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- A study commissioned by the city of Chattanooga to compare our city to other similar cities raised concerns among city council members Tuesday morning.

This study is part of the council’s work towards creating this year’s budget.

It analyzes how various cities across the country similar in size structure their budget, and how they are performing in metrics like poverty.

Chattanooga according to the study has a higher poverty rate than every other city except one, Cincinnati, Ohio, in the study.

Chip Henderson, the Chattanooga City Councilman for District 1, asked, “You’re showing our poverty rate at 16 percent and there’s some cities that are… there’s one (Vancouver, Washington) that’s 6.6%…My question is what are these other cities doing that they have a lower poverty rate than we do?”

The City Council says they’ll continue studying these other cities’ budgets.