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Metro Nashville departments and finance officials have spent the past two weeks explaining Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s budget proposal to Metro councilmembers.
In a series of public hearings, department heads have detailed their budget asks — those fulfilled by the mayor and those left unfunded — and how they plan to absorb a 1.5 percent budget reduction requested of each department.
A series of council work sessions kicked off this week, led by Budget Committee Chair Kyonzté Toombs. Tuesday night, councilmembers presented the first draft of their budget wish list — which includes 92 items ranging in cost from $25,000 to $7.8 million. The requests span a variety of Nashville services and initiatives, including the fire department, pet services, community centers and an Antioch healthcare study. Chair Toombs said Tuesday’s session was intended primarily to review the list, with more detailed discussion expected Thursday. Councilmember Zulfat Suara told the Banner after the meeting that many of the wish list items will likely be grouped together. She added that while some proposals may not receive their full requested funding amounts, items with broad council support are likely to receive at least partial funding.
A public budget hearing will follow on June 2. Councilmembers will consider potential changes to the mayor’s proposal, though council changes are typically only on the margins and not major adjustments. The budget is scheduled for a final vote at the body’s June 16 meeting.
What to know
For an overview of the city’s financial standing and a look at the proposed budget, see the Metro Finance presentation here. (For a deep dive into every department, check out the 657-page budget book.)
The city’s financial professionals are expecting basically flat revenue in the fiscal year that begins July 1. After a big jump from 2025 to 2026 due to the property tax rate adjustment, revenue is projected to increase by about $49 million, from $3.8 billion to $3.849 billion.
Property tax revenue is expected to grow by just 0.68 percent, or about $14.7 million, thanks in part to ongoing property assessment appeals. Local sales tax revenue is expected to grow more, by 3.89 percent (or $28.7 million), but that is offset by the mayor's proposed reduction in the grocery tax, which will cost the city an expected $9.2 million in the coming year.
Of the money expected to come in next year, nearly half is mostly spoken for, with 37.6 percent allocated to Metro Nashville Public Schools and another 11.5 percent going to debt service. Schools spending is proposed to increase by 4 percent, or nearly $56 million.
The new pay plan, funded in the mayor's budget, will cost an additional $36.8 million, including an increase to the living wage floor and a combined 3.7 percent salary increase for most employees. The council sometimes increases the pay plan's proposed wage increases by reducing spending elsewhere.
In addition to the new schools spending, some new investments in the mayor's proposed budget include an increase to the city's allocation to the Barnes Fund, a new $7 million affordable housing revolving loan fund and new spending to sustain programs previously funded by federal allocations (including eviction right to counsel, Office of Homeless Services and Office of Family Safety). Other new spending includes prisoner care for the Davidson County Sheriff, expenditures for Nashville General Hospital and a new tax relief program.
“There’s been a lot of cuts at the federal level to services that affect the vulnerable,” Councilmember Jordan Huffman said during one budget hearing. “We on the local level have to account for that because there’s no other way. We can’t go backwards.”
The 1.5 percent reduction from each department is expected to save $20.6 million throughout the year.
The mayor is proposing to use nearly $49 million from the fund balance in order to balance the budget. Finance officials said Metro has surpassed its reserve fund thresholds, allowing for the use of the money for one-time expenditures.
From the departmental hearings
Departments ask for lots of things before the mayor submits his budget proposal. They don’t typically get everything they ask for, especially in a year with limited projected revenue growth like this one. Departments can use the budget hearings to urge councilmembers to augment the mayor’s proposal and add in more funds, but that means reducing funding elsewhere (or raising the tax rate), and cycle after cycle has proven that is easier said than done.
During hearings in recent weeks, departments were also asked how they plan to absorb the 1.5 percent reduction, with many pointing to vague umbrella categories like “all other expenses” as places where they would seek the savings. Most promised councilmembers they could make the reduction without reducing headcounts or services, instead doing things like delaying purchasing new software or limiting employee travel.
Some exceptions included Metro Social Services, whose executive director Renee' Pratt said the reduction “will affect our program areas specifically. We’re pretty lean.”
Department director Sanmi Areola said the cuts would not affect school nurses or Metro Animal Care and Control but there “are hard choices ahead.” The department might slow down expansion of some initiatives or hold off on hiring an additional physician, he said.
Will Swann, director-chief of Nashville Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management, called the relatively flat budget “very rough.” He acknowledged the department is “in a lot better shape” with staffing than it was three or four years ago and said the cuts would come from the “all other services” category.
The Nashville Public Library will have to look at vacant positions to meet the budget reduction, executive director Terri Luke said, because most spending is tied up in operations and physical locations. The department is continuing its so-far-unsuccessful push to get allocations for new library materials included in the regular recurring operating budget, so the library does not have to wait on annual and fluctuating one-time allocations.
Metro Nashville Police Department is one of many departments facing a basically flat budget year-over-year. Chief John Drake used his council hearing to again push for funding for license plate readers and other technology that the current Metro Council appears to oppose. Drake also cited crime reductions across the city.
“Sounds like y’all have done a great job without the license plate readers,” said Councilmember Delishia Porterfield, an LPR opponent.
Drake said the recently announced decision to bring the Super Bowl to Nashville is a reason to grant the police more technology and increase funding for officers in the downtown entertainment district.
MNPS has proposed a $22 million investment in employee salaries, including a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and 1.5 percent salary step increase.
The COLA has been a central point of debate throughout the budget process. The Metropolitan Nashville Education Association advocated for a 5 percent COLA.
“What that comes down to is the amount that we were allocated,” superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle said during the hearing. “We pushed that as far as we could to get to the 1.7 percent.”
During a budget hearing, several councilmembers said they’ve received emails from teachers asking for a larger pay increase.
“Year after year we’ve been focused on historic investment in Metro schools … and y’all are doing a great job with that money as we’ve seen from the results,” Porterfield said. “You all are continuing to make the decisions that y’all believe are in the best interest of everybody — the students, the parents and the staff — and there are always really tough decisions to make.”
Banner reporters Araceli Crescencio and Lillian Avedian contributed to this story.
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
As we honor those who have served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice, it is also heartening to see the military right a wrong. Chris Davis brings us the moving story of a Purple Heart ceremony two decades in the making. It's worth a watch.
A heartfelt thanks to all who bravely serve.
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