Two weeks ago, Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp released his proposed budget for 2026.

His budget totals more than $1 billion with no planned tax increase.

Out of that $1 billion, how much is directed to regional agencies working against hunger and food insecurity?

It's a shockingly low amount.

And, in a time of increased hunger and instability, Mayor Wamp proposed a budget that cuts $150,000 from two regional nonprofits providing hunger-relief aid to county residents.

Yes, Hamilton County spends millions on school nutrition and Women, Infants and Children funding, but those are funds originating from Washington or Nashville.

What of funding originating from county dollars?

The county directs $2,000 in funding to food stamp assistance.

The county budget also includes $15,702 on emergency food and shelter aid through the Health Department’s Community Assistance Services program; the proposed budget notes this is "federal" funding. (In 2021, the county spent more than $33,000 on this same line-item program.)

Besides that? The page budget contains little funding aimed at direct hunger relief using tax-generated money that originates in Hamilton County.

Again, it's a difficult interpretation. Two examples: the mayor wants to fund $50,000 for the Creative Discovery Museum and $100,000 for United Way's 211 program, both of which - directly and indirectly - could lead to families that are less hungry and more secure and stable.

Does spending $10,000 on its Warm Neighbors program help hunger? Yes, but it's not a direct funding of hunger-relief partners.

In fact, the proposed budget makes it worse.  

In his budget, Mayor Wamp entirely eliminated funding for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank (CAFB).

Last year, in 2025's budget, the county allocated $50,000 to our food bank.

Since then, hard times have become even harder. Federal cuts and increased need have put our region's food bank - which serves some 20 counties and in 2024, provided nearly 17 million meals - even more vulnerable, with longer lines and less governmental support.

In his proposed 2026 budget, Mayor Wamp cut all CAFB funding.

From $50,000 to $0.

La Paz Chattanooga lost $100,000 in funding. The city's top resource center for Latino families, La Paz also provides a food pantry. (With sad irony, La Paz gets its food from the food bank.)

This means the county mayor's budget eliminated $150,000 in funding for two agencies providing food-related relief.

The mayor's budget is part of his vision that sees some $80 million in savings over the next decade, according to the Times Free Press.

In February, he created a task force, a local version of the Dept. of Government Efficiency.

For years, Wamp had been working earnestly against waste and debt. In 2019, he launched the Millennial Debt Foundation, a group of young American leaders pledging "to lead a generational conversation about fiscal stewardship, the role of the federal government and America’s deficit spending crisis."

This is laudable, worthwhile and needed.

In a dramatic and winsome gesture, he even turned in his county cellphone, according to the Times Free Press.

So, his budget priorities - eliminate waste, reduce spending - should come as no surprise.  

Yet, what of government mercy?

As Food as a Verb reported in April, our region's food bank has lost - or is expected to lose - an estimated 20% of its funding, due to federal cuts.

If our county government - with a rainy day fund of $143 million - won't support the food bank, who will?

The role of food plays an under-sized role in government responsibility. We nod yes, of course, municipal governments should fund roads, schools, jails.

But not food?

The mayor's budget seems to echo the same normalized-hands-off response we encountered with the Regional Planning Agency last year.

Responsible for creating the first official planning document in the history of the city and county, which would offer a vision for rural + county growth, RPA leaders were empty-handed when asked to incorporate food into such a vision.

It's a vast forgetting, as if you could create a $1 billion budget or official planning document for nearly 400,000 people that's both responsible and somehow vacant of agricultural policy or food + hunger aid.

It's normalized neglect: an amnesia that forgets food and farms, and all the forms hunger takes in modern Hamilton County.

"I can't afford the food I create," one rural farmer told us.

"All the money I make is just enough to cover the bills half the time. What are we supposed to do about eating?" one single county mother asked us.

"There used to be two grocery stores here," one woman told us from the middle of our city's food + pharmacy desert. "This is the main part: it's hardest to get food."

In the face of these layered aspects of regional hunger, the mayor's proposed budget is silent.

Personally, I find this surprising. I've known Mayor Wamp for many years and consider him trusted, ethical, generous and thoughtful, both as an elected official and a friend.

He is not mean-spirited. So, I have hope:

The proposed budget hasn't passed yet. It can still be amended.

The County Commission will vote on the budget sometime this summer, with August 31 as the state-wide deadline. (The Times Free Press suggests a vote will happen mid-June.)

When asked why the $50,000 in food bank funding was cut, Paris Vinnett - the mayor's Director of Communications - responded:

"This was a tight budget year, and most supporting agencies saw reductions. The decision was not a reflection of the Food Bank’s importance, but part of broader efforts to balance the budget without raising taxes."

Contact Mayor Wamp's office here.

Contact your county commissioner here.

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This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.

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