NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- There has been strong reaction to the passage Wednesday of a new Nashville city budget that includes a 34 percent increase in the property tax.
The Beacon Center, a conservative Nashville advocacy group, calls passage of the plan “cowardly” and says council members should be “utterly ashamed.” The Center writes that the city missed an opportunity to “enact much-needed systemic reforms.”
The group Notax4nashville organized specifically to defeat the tax increase. The group now tells WTVF it will immediately begin recall petitions for council members who voted in favor of the new budget.
The Metro Council debated four separate budget plans beginning Tuesday night and continuing into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The plan adopted by the council was authored by Finance Committee Chair Councilman Bob Mendes.
Mayor John Cooper filed a budget of his own for the council’s consideration. That plan included a 32 percent property tax increase. It was rejected by the council.
Following passage of the Medes plan, Mayor Cooper commented he would not have favored a tax increase, “were we not facing the greatest financial challenge in Nashville’s history. It is a difficult but necessary choice.”
