The Metro Council early Wednesday morning approved an annual spending plan that made minor changes to the version proposed by Mayor John Cooper.
The debate, contentious in a normal year, was intensified by the pandemic-induced budget strain and a newly forceful movement aimed at redirecting law enforcement funding to other community priorities. Councilmembers filed dozens of potential budget amendments and several substitute budgets.
Some conservative councilmembers, lead among them Steve Glover, sought to stave off any reductions to police spending while limiting the property tax increase deemed necessary by Mayor John Cooper and Council Budget Chair Bob Mendes. Glover’s substitute budget would have gutted city spending in several departments while increasing the wheel tax and scaling back Cooper’s proposed property tax increase. With the increase to the wheel tax, some residents would end up paying more under Glover’s plan, while high-value property holders would benefit relative to the other budget plans.
Glover’s substitute budget failed during the Metro Council meeting, as did a proposed amendment from Councilmember Courtney Johnston that would have scaled back the property tax increase and drastically cut city spending.
Cooper’s original plan called for a 32 percent increase to property tax rates, a boost of $1 per $100 in assessed value. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000, for instance, would pay about $750 more annually in property taxes.
Mendes’ plan, the one that was ultimately adopted, increases the rate slightly more — by $1.066 to $4.221 per $100 in assessed value — and adjusts some of Cooper’s proposed spending. Mendes has been calling for a rate increase since well before the pandemic, arguing it was necessary to properly fund education and other priorities after years of leaving it alone.
“No one wants to have to raise taxes during a period where so many people are hurting financially,” Councilmember Delishia Porterfield said. “This was a tough decision for us all.”
Some proposed amendments would have adopted some of the proposals of the People’s Budget Coalition, a group advocating for decreased spending on policing amid the nationwide conversation about racism and police brutality. Councilmember Ginny Welsch, for example, proposed a $110 million combined reduction in spending on the Metro Nashville Police Department and Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, with those funds allocated instead to affordable housing, transit, homelessness services and other priorities.
Welsch’s amendment failed, though councilmembers including Zulfat Suara and Delishia Porterfield offered support for the principles it represented.
“We have to reimagine what public safety is going to look like for our city,” Porterfield said.
That energy in part contributed to a marathon public hearing earlier this month, when dozens of residents called on the Metro Council to reduce funding for the MNPD. Mendes said he received an “unprecedented” amount of public input on the budget. A group organized by the People’s Budget Coalition rallied outside the Metro Courthouse Tuesday night as the council prepared to consider the different budgets.
Among the speakers at the Tuesday afternoon rally were representatives from the different groups making up the coalition, including Gideon’s Army, whose Violence Interrupter program Welsch’s amendment would have funded with decreased police spending.
“We are talking about holding our community accountable by empowering community members,” said Jamel Campbell-Gooch from Gideon’s Army. “The services that we provide as Gideon’s Army should be provided by the city.”
Other proposals were less ambitious while still seeking to decrease spending on policing. Councilmember Sean Parker’s proposed amendment, for example, would have moved nearly $3 million in spending on police, sheriff’s office and prosecutors to social and emotional learning for kids, but the effort failed.
Instead, the spending plan would boost funding for Metro Police by more than $2 million. Mendes sought to strip the increase from Cooper’s budget plan, but Councilmember Russ Pulley successfully restored it via amendment during the meeting. Police officials said keeping MNPD funding flat, as Mendes proposed, would result in the loss of 48 police recruits.
Other amendments unrelated to policing also failed. Councilmember Dave Rosenberg sought to redirect city spending on the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce to dedicated finance staff for the Metro Council, but his amendment failed. Councilmember Angie Henderson unsuccessfully sought to cut financial incentives to businesses, a move Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo called “draconian.”
One substitute budget that did not receive much of a hearing came from Councilmember Freddie O’Connell. He built his proposal with more than $200 million in hoped-for funding from the federal government, but city financial officials deemed the plan “not structurally balanced” because the funds have not yet been realized. With the state comptroller keeping a close eye on the Metro budget process, O’Connell withdrew his proposal.
The meeting that got underway Tuesday evening was just the latest to extend into the next morning’s hours. Technical difficulties contributed to the lengthy meeting, but members also spent hours discussing the amendments and substitute budgets, leading to questions about how well members of the public could engage with the development of the budget.
“This process sucks,” Rosenberg said.
