The Competing Nashville budget proposals.

There are five budget proposals that may be presented to the Council.  Here they are:

• The Mendez  32% tax increase proposal:  At-large council member Bob Mendes, the council's budget committee chair, has proposed a budget that is very close to the mayor's budget.  It just shifts a little money here and there.  It raises taxes 32% or a $1.00 increase in the tax rate.
• The Mendez 34% tax increase proposal: This proposed would increase the property tax rate $1.066. It would provide funding for step increases and 1% cost-of-living adjustments for city employees and $7.6 million more for Nashville schools as well as $4.9 million to bring minimum wage for the school district to $15 an hour.
• The Emily Benedict proposal: It would increase the tax rate about $1.16 to include restoring raises for school employees and boosting funding for Nashville General Hospital and some grant funding.
• The Freddie O'Connell proposal: Under this proposal, the city would borrow money from the federal Municipal Liquidity Facility program and the tax increase would only be $0.37 per $100 of assessed value.  However, city officials say Nashville is not eligible to borrow from this fund.
• The Steve Glover proposal: Taxes would increase about 20%.

For more on this, follow this link. If none of the budget proposals can get the support of at least 21 members of the Metro Council, Mayor Cooper's budget is adopted by default even if no one votes for it.

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John Cooper's budget is based on flawed assumptions, misguided goals

by Ralph Bristol, Guest columnist, The Tennessean - ... Flawed assumptions.  Cooper’s budget was submitted before it was certain that more federal aid was on the way. .... There’s no longer any reasonable doubt about massive federal relief for state and city budgets. The only question is “how much.” ... Neither companies nor cities exist for the purpose of providing employment. That is a hard concept for politicians to grasp, especially when government employees constitute a large, highly funded and organized block of their political base. (read more)

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Nashville to continue sharing patient health data with police.

The Tennessean - Nashville will continue to share a list of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 with law enforcement and other first responders, as Metro Health Director Dr. Michael Caldwell says he is "puzzled" by the state reversing its policy of sharing patient data. ... Mayor John Cooper and Office of Emergency Management Director Chief William Swann stood in support of Caldwell and the city's policy Thursday, ... (link)

Metro Nashville data share draws controversy with Metro Councilmembers

 Heated exchange between council members and Metro health officials ensues on weekly conference call

Tennessee Outlook - A conference call between Nashville health officials and council members on Thursday revealed a deep and continuing divide over the city’s practice of sharing names and addresses of COVID-19 positive individuals with law enforcement. In one of the most heated moments of the 40-minute call, Dr. Alex Jahangir — chair of Nashville health department known for his calm delivery in daily COVID-19 briefings — angrily suggested that Council Member Freddie O’Connell pay for his own constituents’ testing at private labs if they were discouraged from seeking public testing. (link)

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Nashville ranks #5 for fastest year-over-year rent growth. Tax increase to push rents higher.

by Rod Williams - A new study from Apartment List finds Nashville rents have declined 0.2% over the past month, but are up moderately by 2.1% in comparison to the same time last year.


Currently, median rents in Nashville stand at $950 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,166 for a two-bedroom. Nashville's year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 1.5%, as well as the national average of 0.8%.

Now, as Nashville is on the verge of passing a 32% property tax hike, we can expect rents to jump again. The average renter can expect rent to increase $1800 a year if the 32% tax hike passes.

There is a lot of hypocrisy about affordable housing in Nashville.  While many advocates bemoan the loss of affordable housing, the same people supports policies that lead to a loss of affordable housing.  Supporting higher taxes is one way, government destroys affordable housing.  Another way is by opposing rezoning or actually downzoning property to stop developers from building affordable housing. This happens.  Some of the most vocal councilmembers  for affordable housing do the most to kill affordable housing and trample property rights in the process.

Another way is by rezoning large swaths of the county from zoning that permits two housing units per lot to a zoning that allows only one housing unit per lot.  When you reduce density, you increase the likelihood of the development of higher priced homes.  This also contributes to urban sprawl.

Another way we destroy affordable housing is my beautifying parts of town that were home to lower income people.  When you ban pay day lenders, restrict the number of car lots on a major corridors, require decorative fencing in front of car lots, require all dumpsters to be behind fencing on reinforced concrete pads and do other things to beautify a part of town, you increase property values and make that part of town desirable to people who previously would not have wanted to live there.  That displaces low-income people.  Every corridor cannot look like Brentwood and remain affordable.  Currently there is a plan to beautify Dickerson Road.  The days of mobile home parks on Dickerson Road are numbered.  Hundreds if not thousands of affordable housing units will be lost.

While rents have been rapidly increasing in Nashville, rent is still not as outrageously high as many other large cities.  For more detailed information see the report from Apartment List at this link.

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Tennessee to stop sharing COVID-19 patient data with local law enforcement, first responders

Tennessee to stop sharing COVID-19 patient data with local law enforcement, first responders

Rod's comment:  I am pleased to see Tennessee end this practice.  I was surprised when the policy was announced.  I thought that patient health information was confidential. It should be.

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Tell the Mayor you are against his 32% plan that will increase your tax bill by $750 a year for the average homeowner or $1,800 a year for the average renter.

Fill out this questionnaire and tell the Mayor you are against his 32% plan that will increase your tax bill by $750 a year for the average homeowner or $1,800 a year for the average renter.

Please read and answer the 9 questions below. Your responses will generate an email that will be sent directly to the mayor and councilman. Your response can make a difference.

Follow this link.

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