Briley 'Committed' to Avoiding Tax Hike in 2019, Planning Listening Tour

Mayor David Briley says he is "committed" to funding Metro government without a tax increase in the upcoming budget, and that his administration will try to avoid one in the future. 

Briley made his comments about taxes in an interview with the Scene earlier this month (which you can read in full in next week's paper). In June — as he faced criticism over a proposed budget that failed to deliver promised cost-of-living raises for Metro workers and fell nearly $40 million short of the Metro Nashville Public Schools funding request — the mayor resisted calls to raise property taxes. At-Large Metro Councilmember Bob Mendes emphasized that Briley, and Megan Barry before him, were breaking with historical precedent by not raising taxes alongside the property reappraisal every four years. Despite new expenses, Metro had the lowest property tax rate in its history. The 2018-19 Metro budget, Mendes said, was "built on quicksand." 

Mendes, among others, argued that a property tax hike was coming soon one way or another. But Briley, who will also be running for re-election in 2019, says he'll avoid one again.

“This year we are working incredibly hard to make sure that we can live up to our obligations as a city without raising taxes," he tells the Scene. "And I’m committed to doing it this year without raising taxes. We’ll have revenue growth this year. We’re trying to keep our expenses in line or reduce them where we can. We do a budget one year at a time, and that’s really all I’m in a position to say right now, is what we’re going to be doing this year. I expect that we’ll continue to have revenue growth in the coming years, and we’ll do everything we can not to have a revenue increase in the future.”

Briley also tells us he's planning a listening tour of sorts in the new year, similar to one he went on earlier this year ahead of the mayoral election in May. Asked how he makes sure that he stays in touch with Nashvillians who are feeling left behind and aware of their struggles, he says he'll be holding a number of town-hall-style events.

“We’re going to do meetings across the county in the winter and early spring," he says. "Just to go out and touch base and get some affirmation for the direction we’re going, or some redirection from people who live here about how we ought to grow.”