Animal control, arts grants, a worker compliance board and various social programs topped budget requests submitted over the past week from individual Metro councilmembers. These so-called “wish lists” indicate tiny chunks of the overall budget that each member hopes will make it into the city’s final allocation.
Metro councilmembers typically take what they’re given from the mayor's office during budget season. Mayor Freddie O’Connell released his $3.28 billion proposal in May, setting up most major funding decisions at the macro level: $30 million for the Barnes Fund, $1.25 billion for Metro Nashville Public Schools, an expected 3.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment.Â
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Wish-list requests show members’ willingness to pull from the Barnes Fund, MNPD budget and Vision Zero — all funding sources with existing purposes — to fund higher salary bumps across Metro and specific personnel funding for the Metro Human Resource Commission, Metro Animal Care and the city's board of education. Requests also supported a new Worker Compliance Board backed by Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda, the nascent REACH first-responder program and Metro’s new ​​Office of Music, Film and Entertainment. Councilmembers eyed the 4 percent fund, a legally required reserve balance, when naming a funding source. Others suggested pulling from the Barnes Fund, NDOT funding, the city’s Judgments and Losses balance and the police department.
Several councilmembers included parts or all of the Varsity Spending Plan, a three-pronged initiative to fund community safety and restorative justice programs across the city.Â
All individual funding requests can be found here. Councilmember At-Large Delishia Porterfield, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, is overseeing committee work sessions this week. Porterfield was among a handful of members who did not submit individual budget requests.
