Downtown Nashville
The Metro Council narrowly voted Tuesday to reject a proposed budget for downtown’s Central Business Improvement District. The vote arrived after several councilmembers raised concerns related to the Nashville Downtown Partnership, the entity that operates many of the services provided in the tax district.
More than 100 residents address council — also advocating for funding Nashville General Hospital, childcare initiatives, city employee pay raises
The CBID functions through an extra tax paid by property owners in the district, along with an additional fee of 0.25 percent on certain retail transactions, to fund services like litter and trash removal, landscaping and safety patrols — all run via the Nashville Downtown Partnership.
Twenty councilmembers, a majority of those present at Tuesday night’s meeting, voted in favor of the proposed CBID budget. However, Metro law requires budget resolutions receive 21 votes to pass. Eight councilmembers voted against the proposal and two abstained. The remaining 10 members were absent.
NDP Concerns Lead to Failed Vote
Those who voted against the budget cited concerns over the lack of street safety provisions in place for pedestrians and cyclists downtown. At a Metro Budget and Finance Committee meeting on June 1, At-Large Councilmember Quin Evans Segall asked NDP president and CEO Tom Turner if the partnership is “committed to looking at safety holistically” and open to paying for improvements to street safety.
Turner maintained that NDP is committed to a “clean and safe” downtown and that the funds will continue to go toward services like trash removal, security and homeless outreach.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Evans Segall noted Turner’s comment and cited it as a reason for her opposition to the budget proposal.
“I think if you ask most Nashvillians what 'clean and safe' means, it's not just picking up trash, and it is not just funding officers downtown,” said Evans Segall. “It means that when people walk on sidewalks downtown that they feel like they're not going to die.”
“And what we have every single year downtown are tourists coming to this city, paying this fee and dying on our streets,” she added. “They are dying on scooters. They are dying on our sidewalks, and the Downtown Partnership doesn't view that as a safety issue. But when the garage blows up and we have visitors and people who live here whose cars are stuck there for months on end in what is a hazardous site — that is neither clean nor safe.”
Councilmember Sean Parker added that he would like to see NDP “stop impeding the deployment of safe infrastructure.”
“They have a habit of doing that,” Parker said.
WPLN reported last month that Nashville has seen a spike in pedestrian and roadway deaths in 2026.
NDP has also received backlash over its response to a fire in the Nashville Public Library's downtown parking garage in a space the organization leased to subcontractor Block by Block last summer. In addition, the entity has faced scrutiny in recent years for its connection to Tennessee Highway Patrol’s 2024 arrest of 10 unhhoused people in the district.
This is paired with the partnership’s contract with security firm Solaren, which courts found to have made dozens of legal violations. NDP ended its contract with Solaren this year, and has hired security company Civicity to take its place — a fact Councilmember Jordan Huffman noted at the June 2 council meeting. Prior to the failed vote, Huffman urged his fellow councilmembers to approve the CBID budget, noting Nashville’s reliance on tourism revenue generated downtown.
“I want y'all to realize that the Downtown Partnership is very much a partner to us,” said Huffman. "And they saw a problem and they addressed it.”
Next Steps
NDP now has the opportunity to resubmit a new budget proposal for consideration by the council, though Councilmember Jacob Kupin — whose District 19 includes the CBID — tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post it is likely the same budget proposal will be introduced at the council’s next meeting on June 16. Kupin says that because the budget failed by only one vote, and that 10 councilmembers were absent from Tuesday’s meeting, he believes there is a good chance it will pass if considered again.
Downtown civic facility has been closed since June 2025 fire
“I'm going to still be working on the concerns and improvements regardless of the budget passing or not,” Kupin says. “I really would prefer to not hold a budget hostage and hold all these people's money hostage as opposed to trying to work collaboratively on these matters.”
Kupin says it remains unclear whether the CBID budget is required to pass before the start of fiscal year 2027 on July 1. The CBID budget appears as a single line item on Metro’s citywide budget ordinance set to be considered on June 16, but the CBID budget itself stands as a separate resolution breaking down where the funds will be allocated.
“There's some schools of thought that says [NDP] can't spend [budget dollars] without [council approval],” Kupin said. “There are other schools of thought that say this is just a council approving effectively a report that's prepared with no actual substantive weight on the budget itself. But either way, the goal is to get it approved before July 1.”
The nearly $9 million CBID budget proposes the following funding allocations:
Safety services: $2,812,684
Cleaning services: $3,163,733
Economic development: $704,660
Parks/placemaking development: $803,072
Strategic development and communications: $620,619
General and administration: $793,528
Councilmember Jacob Kupin sponsors ordinance to expand district, says it will generate an estimated $8 million in tax revenue
In a statement to the Post, NDP says the organization is “disappointed” in Tuesday night’s vote but “grateful to the 71 percent of the council that voted for a clean, safe, active, and attractive downtown.”
“The budgets submitted to Metro reflect the priorities for the fees and assessments paid by CBID property and business owners, above and beyond what’s paid to Metro,” the statement reads. “With a downtown that provides 12 percent of the city’s property tax revenue, 18 percent of its sales tax revenue, and 16 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, this economic engine needs these resources to sustain a clean and safe downtown. Today, we are doing what we did yesterday and the day before, which is working with our public and private partners for pathways to maintain the best downtown for all of us.”
The council voted last year to merge and expand the CBID to include areas of The Gulch, a measure that will soon take effect. A separate budget for the Gulch portion of the district passed Tuesday with little debate.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
