@startleseasily is a fervent observer of the Metro government's comings and goings. In this column, "On First Reading," she'll recap the bimonthly Metro Council meetings and provide her opinions and analysis. You can find her in the pew in the corner by the mic, ready to give public comment on whichever items stir her passions. Follow her on Bluesky here.
It’s a tight budget year. Again. Seems like most every year is a tight budget year these days, no matter how Metro slices and dices the city’s fiscal position. Last year was tight because Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the Metro Council opted to forgo an increase in the property tax rate. This year, with federal COVID relief funds dwindling and the impending threat of future federal spending cuts, the council had to make some tough decisions.
Tuesday night, they approved a budget that included a property tax rate increase — er, well, after it was decreased, that is. Confusing, no? This message was brought to you by our four-year property reappraisal cycle and a little thing called the “truth in taxation” law.
You see, every four years, the assessor of property reappraises every building in Nashville. If you own a home, you were likely shocked by how much it’s allegedly worth now, soft real estate market be damned! But because we believe in transparency in Tennessee — at least when it comes to taxes — local governments are not allowed to reap an automatic windfall from rising property values. So each reappraisal year, someone at Metro does a bunch of complicated math to make sure the total property taxes they take in are the same as they were before property values went up. They readjust the property tax rate accordingly and settle on a “certified tax rate,” which, in our case, usually means a tax rate significantly lower than before reappraisal.
Local governments aren’t necessarily locked into this lower rate, though; if the local legislative body holds a public hearing — which our council already does every year for the budget — they can actually raise the rate. And that’s what they did this year, for a 26 percent increase in the combined tax rate as compared to the CTR.
This is how Nashville gets to brag about having a historically low property tax rate. Metro can afford to set a lower rate, because Nashville properties are worth so damn much. But don’t get your hopes up when you hear the rhetoric. You’ll want to be prepared for an unpleasant increase in your annual tax bill come October.
Pocket Change
Special work sessions and meetings dot the calendar as Metro Council approaches its June 30 budget deadline
As is customary, the council approved a substitute budget developed by the Budget and Finance Committee chair. For the second year in a row, Councilmember At-Large Delishia Porterfield holds that seat. She held a series of workshops and fielded “wish list” requests from her colleagues, then distilled everything she heard into a budget that made few changes to the mayor’s proposed budget. Out of a $3.8 billion budget, Porterfield’s substitute moved around roughly $9 million — accounting for about 0.24 percent of the total budget amount. You can hear Porterfield’s description of the changes here, and Scene reporter Julianne Akers reports on the details here.
This too is customary, because no one wants to touch the increases that departments are expecting based on the mayor’s proposal. It’s like the council believes those funds — which departments do not even have yet, and which have not actually been promised to them until the council votes on a budget — are sacrosanct. So the council looks to administrative funds like reserves and contingencies.
Instead of making the really hard choice to cut back on new spending in some departments in order to fund additional positions or programs in others, they make the less hard choice of settling for less. It’s less painful for departments, but at what cost to their constituents? You know, the ones asking for less police spending and more social services, youth safety spending and affordable housing every freaking year.
Tax levy, additional MNPS funds part of FY 2026 spending plan
Granted, the council is at a significant time and manpower disadvantage from Day 1. The mayor has a set of dedicated, experienced staffers working on the budget essentially year-round. For the Finance Department, every season is budget season. The council is made up of 40 part-time members, nearly all of whom have unrelated day jobs. They’re given a little less than two months from the date they receive the mayor’s proposal (by May 1) until they have to pass a substitute, or the mayor’s budget goes into effect by default (June 30). They can’t talk about the budget with each other outside of publicly noticed meetings, thanks to sunshine laws, and they don’t have a whole department of people doing this work for them every day.
Even if the playing field were more level, though, I don’t see a viable coalition among this council willing to swing for the fences. We’ve got a whole lot of little factions with not a lot of coordination, and it takes 21 members to pass a budget.
She’s Running
Councilmember Courtney Johnston is running. For something. I’m not sure what office yet, but she’s definitely running.
Despite money and establishment connections, Republicans fail to depose far-right incumbent in District 5
You may remember Johnston from her failed Republican primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles. She seems to be positioning herself for another run, maybe for mayor this time. She’s been testing out campaign messaging on Facebook, lambasting Mayor O’Connell and trying out cute nicknames for him, like “DJ Spin Doctor.”
On Tuesday night, she brought the show to the courthouse. Johnston had proposed a dueling substitute budget. Her proposal would have eaten into the budget increases in the mayor’s proposal for nearly every department, including her beloved Metro Nashville Police Department. In exchange, she proposed a slightly lower tax rate than the mayor; still an increase above the CTR, but a smaller increase.
In a discussion of her substitute, Johnston scolded her colleagues and the mayor for not adopting her approach. “In order to reduce the tax levy, we have to reduce spending,” Johnston explained. “I work for the taxpayers, not the departments or the mayor. ... That’s who we aren’t talking about: the taxpayer.”
“We’re in an affordability crisis, yet all I hear from this body and this administration is, ‘The juice isn’t worth the squeeze,’" Johnston added. "The fact is, this body isn’t willing to squeeze at all. Who are we willing to squeeze? The taxpayer.”
If you were taking a shot every time Johnston said “taxpayer,” you are probably still in the hospital as you read this.
I’ve heard from a couple of folks that Johnston might be looking to snag an at-large seat; as a countywide office, there’s usually one up for grabs for a more conservative member of the body. I’m not sure I see that. Johnston seems to legitimately despise being on the council. She was an effective coalition-builder last term, her first time holding political office, when she had more colleagues who saw things her way. This term, she’s had spotty attendance — she was basically MIA for much of her congressional run — and a piss-poor attitude, having stormed off the council floor in a huff multiple times when a vote on legislation doesn’t go her way.
True to form, Johnston went home shortly after the council voted to approve Porterfield’s substitute budget. She is nothing if not consistent.
