Mayor David Briley outlined his vision for Nashville in the year ahead on Tuesday, but his speech did not outline how a number of his proposals would be paid for.
Briley's proposals include a budget increase for Metro Schools, which he hopes will be used to raise teacher pay by 3%.
Briley also proposes increasing pay for city employees like firefighters and police officers by 3% this year -- police officers, firefighters and other city workers were promised that raise for last year, but Briley and Metro councilmembers reneged on that deal.
Briley also announced he would increase the starting pay for Metro Police officers by 6.4%
But questions remain about how Briley would pay for these expenditures, and whether he or Metro council members would propose a tax increase to fund them.
Briley has already proposed having a private company run the city's parking meters -- a proposal that would generate $300 million for the city over the 30-year deal, but would likely mean fewer free parking spots, increased parking fines and charging for parking on Sundays.
Mayor Briley, along with all Metro council members are up for election this year. Historically, city lawmakers have not voted for tax increases when their names will appear in front of voters at the ballot box just months later.
The last time Metro council members approved a tax increase was in 2012.
