On Tuesday Nashville’s council could vote on the city’s upcoming capital and operating budgets.
They could choose between the mayor’s proposal or their own. Either way, the mayor got to mostly set the priorities, which left the council two months to make tweaks.
Over the last two weeks, the council has hosted public work sessions where some councilmembers made a case for their priorities. And in some cases, offered options on where money should be taken from.
One of council’s struggles is the demand for city services is more than what the city can afford this year.
“It took us years to get in this situation where we are so far behind on everything,” Councilmember Courtney Johnston says. “And it’s going to take us years to get out of it.”
She says policymakers should be mindful of what the city’s priorities are and how services and projects are funded in order to ensure the city corrects past mistakes.
Councilmembers created wishlists normally based on what they hear from city departments and the residents they represent. After three meetings, the budget and finance chair Kyontzè Toombs had to figure out how to squeeze it all into one proposal.
The mayor was already going to add firefighters and the council is upping that number by 15, plus 20 emergency medical service positions. A couple of additions to the council’s proposed budget include adding Friday library hours and boosting the pay for school support staff by bringing them in on professional development days, which was a SEIU demand.
“There’s no way that anyone should be working in Nashville, going to work Monday through Friday, taking care of our most vulnerable population and not making enough money to keep of a roof over their head,” Councilmember Delishia Porterfield explained to her colleagues.
She repeatedly references her experience as a former exceptional education teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools to give them insight on how policy could impact classroom experiences.
Some items on wishlists ended up on the cutting floor to make room for those expansions.
One idea for a non-police mental health team, called HEALS, was dropped for the upcoming year because the city doesn’t have the capacity or experience to execute it. Another was Councilmember Thom Druffel’s request to add “grounds” and maintenance for Brook Meade Park, which currently has a homeless encampment.
Council’s budget chairperson tells WPLN News the goal is to pass the budget Tuesday. City officials are also on edge this week, as they wait to hear a judge’s verdict in a referendum that could eliminate some services.
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