A nine-member board that state lawmakers created earlier this year is now deciding what to do with millions in surplus tax dollars from downtown Nashville. While some officials have floated giving money back to businesses around Broadway facing high tax bills, other proposals are in the works.
Two decades ago, the Tourism Development Zone was created for hotel and sales taxes to help pay for Nashville’s new convention center. That arrangement has overperformed, leading to tension between the city and state officials over the surplus. This spring, state lawmakers created a board to decide how to disburse those funds.
Earlier this month, former governor Bill Haslam, a member of the new Joint Capital Tourism Board, suggested that just giving it to business owners could prove uneven. Another board member, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, says he hopes to steer funding in other directions.
“For instance, we have a very small Central Precinct despite the number of calls they get. And we may look at potential for some kind of public safety expansion there that could include police, fire and OEM,” Nashville’s Office of Emergency Management, O’Connell said.
Details of those proposals are still pending. The exact amount of excess revenue is not yet clear, but it could be in the tens of millions — and should be settled by the end of the year.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM