Despite the dozens of construction cranes dotting the Nashville skyline and a booming economy, Nashville has planned for a fiscally conservative year.
Nashville Mayor David Briley kicked off his first round of budget hearings Monday with a warning.
"We are going to need to maintain a status quo budget this year and be very cautious about how we spend money," Briley said.
After two years with a surplus of about $220 million, Nashville will have fewer tax dollars to work with in the 2018-19 budget. Briley said that can be attributed to a big increase in 2017 property appraisal appeals.
"There were 7,179 appeals filed with the Metro Board of Equalization which is an increase of about 49 percent," said property assessor Vivian Wilhoite. "We're impacted with revenue loss because of the state board and the Metro board decisions."
Briley said all Metro departments were made aware of the city's budget shortfall and he's not expecting any major problems throughout the rest of the budget hearing process.
Metro Nashville Public Schools will be the final department to present a budget to Mayor Briley. That meeting was scheduled for April 19.
