NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Many Davidson County homeowners have seen their property values skyrocket, which could mean higher tax bills in the future.
However, a higher home value may not be the only reason residents could end up paying more.
The mayor's recommended budget includes a property tax levy that goes above what would be considered "revenue neutral."
For most people in Davidson County, the revenue-neutral property tax levy is 2.22 for every $100 of home value, up to 25% of the home's total value.
However, the mayor's new proposed levy for most households is 2.814, about 59 cents more per $100 of assessed value up to that same 25% limit, than the revenue-neutral rate.
The new recommended budget is $3.8 billion, up from about $3.2 billion last year.
Click here for more information on the recommended budget.
Metro Councilor at Large Delishia Porterfield chairs the budget and finance committee.
I reached out to Porterfield to find out more about why that extra funding is needed.
"The same way that inflation is impacting all of us, the cost to run our city this year is not the same cost as it was last year," Porterfield said.
When asked why the Metro can't just maintain last year's budget, Porterfield addressed what she called a common misconception.
"I think sometimes there's a misconception because one thing that people always ask is, 'Well, why can't you just cut?' You know, our departments are already running on bare bones," Porterfield said.
I also asked Porterfield about why money beyond the revenue-neutral rate is needed, and what would happen if it weren't there.
"That question would then turn back to the residents. Do you want fewer police officers than what you currently have now? Or do you believe that that service is adequate? Do you want fewer firefighters than what you have now? Do you want to wait longer if your house is on fire? Do you want fewer teachers for your child's school? I mean, the question then comes to, because these are, we say, services, but these services are provided by individuals. So these are actual city employees that are providing services for us. So at this point, you know, and we look at our budget last year, we had a 5% targeted savings that last year, each department had to do budget cuts to be able to balance our city's budget. We just cannot continue to operate in that manner, because then our residents are not getting the services that they need, and, frankly, that they deserve," Porterfield said.
According to Porterfield, the recommended budget would require the metro to bring in $509 million in new revenue, and use $20.5 million from savings.
Of that amount, property taxes would account for $483.6 million, a Local Option Sales Tax accounts for $15.6 million, other government agencies would bring in $600,000, and other sources would contribute $9.4 million.
Newschannel 5 reached out to Mayor O'Connell for a statement about this story. Once we receive it, we will add it to this report.
The budget is still in its recommended stage. Over the next few weeks, the mayor and Metro Council will work to finalize the budget.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
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