Hundreds on both sides state their case
The people of Nashville finally had their say Tuesday on Mayor Karl Dean’s proposal for a 53-cent property tax increase, and they had a lot on their minds.
Metro Council signed off on the proposal — and the $1.71 billion budget it would help fund — on second reading in a voice vote around 10 p.m.
But that was largely a formality because Dean’s plan would have become law if the council did nothing. A final, definitive vote on the budget is expected at the next regularly scheduled council meeting June 19, when members probably will have to declare where they stand during a roll-call vote.
Tuesday’s vote came after hundreds of residents poured into the courthouse to tell council members why they should or shouldn’t support the mayor’s proposal. Many tax increase supporters wore blue outfits or sported white “Moving Nashville Forward” T-shirts. Many opponents wore yellow T-shirts with the word “TAX” inside a circle with a line drawn through it.
Ben Cunningham, a leader of the anti-tax forces, told reporters arriving at 5:45 that the council chamber was full and had already been closed. A large crowd also gathered in the second-floor lobby.
Supporters, who got to speak first, lined up at the lectern for more than 90 minutes, saying the tax increase would allow Nashville to enhance — or at least preserve — services in education, public safety, mass transit, the arts and other areas.
“Please increase my property taxes to pay for school improvement,” said Chris Moth of Green Hills, a parent in the Metro Schools system. “It’s a tiny amount to pay for the future of Nashville.”
But Ken Jakes, a business owner and unsuccessful council candidate last year, said public art on the riverfront and outside the courthouse shows that the city hasn’t been careful with its dollars and cents.
“We need to make sure the money that is taken in for this city is put in the proper places,” he said.
Opponents of the tax increase spoke for more than 90 minutes as well.
There was virtually no chance the council would kill the mayor’s plan Tuesday, because it would take effect anyway due to a procedural quirk prescribed by the Metro Charter. Because the council hasn’t considered an alternate proposal yet, Dean’s budget would have stood as the government’s default position.
The tax increase's effect
The tax increase, which would be Metro’s first in seven years, would generate about $100 million in new revenue. It would raise the tax rate from $4.13 to $4.66 per $100 of assessed value in the Urban Services District — 3 cents below the $4.69 rate that was in effect when Dean took office in 2007, before a countywide reappraisal.Assessed value is 25 percent of the appraised value for residential property and 40 percent for commercial property.
The tax rate would go up 48 cents in the General Services District, rising from $3.56 to $4.04 per $100 of assessed value, the rate before the 2009 reappraisal. Dean’s administration initially planned to raise the rate 53 cents everywhere, but it then decided it didn’t want to risk getting sued.
A Metro Charter amendment approved by voters in 2006 requires a referendum on any proposed increase to the property tax rate beyond the level where it stood before the last countywide reappraisal.
The city would use the new revenues to raise starting teacher salaries by $5,000, moving Metro Schools into the top tier of Tennessee school districts; retain 50 police officers whose federal grant funding soon will run out; give a 4 percent pay raise to most city employees; and pay debt service on building projects that will touch schools and the general government alike.
Al Cocke, who said he has lived in Nashville since 1980, said the city’s residents and their elected officials have had to pick sides and “do battle” every time there’s been a decision to make about “Nashville’s progress toward the future.” He noted that Dean’s tax increase would be the first in the mayor’s five years in office, and it would be smaller than some sought by previous mayors.
“Can we afford this increase? Yes,” Cocke said.
Cyril Stewart, who lives in West Nashville, said cities can grow or decline and that raising taxes would be “critical” to meeting the challenges of growth “with good leadership and planning.”
But opponents said they continue to feel the pain inflicted by the economic downturn of the past few years, which has raised the cost of gas, food and other essentials.
“How much more are we going to ask the residents of this city to fork up?” Bellevue resident Lonnie Spivak said.
Local Libertarian Party Chairman Daniel Lewis questioned the entire enterprise at an even more fundamental level, telling council members that “taxation is theft.”
Without new revenue, the city would have to make big cuts in government services, Dean has said.
The mayor has recommended a $1,710,193,100 budget. That represents a $124.4 million, 7.85 percent increase over the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The tax increase and other revenue growth actually would generate $149.4 million in new money, but that would be offset by $25 million that the city used in one-time reserve funds this year.
The proposed budget would not use any reserves to make ends meet, Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling has said.
Contact Michael Cass
at 615-259-8838 or
mcass@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnmetro.
