Nashville mayor outlines 'challenging' budget recommendations in State of Metro
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell focused on city services, public schools, public safety and housing in his second State of Metro address on the morning of May 1 at the Downtown Public Library.
The 62nd State of Metro came days after residents across Davidson County received their 2025 property reassessments from Assessor of Property Vivian Wilhoite. The countywide median value increase this cycle was 45%.
"This is an appraisal year, our first since 2021," O'Connell said during his speech. "And since then, many areas have seen significant increases in property value. The costs of serving those areas have gone up, too."
O'Connell said his 2026 fiscal year budget recommendation, filed before he took the podium that morning, was difficult to prepare amid the mounting costs of running a growing city.
"This is a challenging budget to prepare because there are so many financial variables," he said. "Our national economic outlook is murky. We're phasing out hundreds of millions of dollars of one-time federal COVID relief funding. And we're experiencing an unpredictable overall federal funding outlook."
He made the case that Nashville has been ripped off by the federal government as the city faces cuts to tax dollars already promised by lawmakers in Washington.
Cuts to grant programs have pulled funding from local nonprofits, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and other entities. Even funds that were previously approved have been halted.
"Metro has been ghosted on awarded funds of more than $14 million," O'Connell said.
Metro Nashville has joined other local governments in suing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over "devastating" public health budget cuts.
"We must not lose sight of our high aspirations despite the challenges of the time," O'Connell said. "Our response to the chaos of the moment is the competence of the city. This is the Nashville story."
O'Connell said when it comes to funding city infrastructure, there is one primary vehicle available to local governments in Tennessee. That's property taxes.
The mayor's $3.8 billion recommended budget includes a combined property tax rate of 2.814, a change from the 3.254 rate of 2021-2025. That new rate is one of the lowest among Tennessee cities, but it could still translate to property owners paying more in taxes moving forward. It is unclear exactly what the new adjusted rate will be after the reappraisal and equalization process concludes.
"I know its complicated talking about appraisals, equalization and the impact on tax," O'Connell said. "Especially because we know two things are true at once. Some Nashvillians will pay more in property taxes, even as we're setting the lowest overall property tax rate in Nashville since 1972."
With the mayor's budget now filed, Metro Council will take over, make adjustments and vote to approve by June 30. That process includes any consideration of property tax rate adjustments.
A coalition to oppose a property tax increase has already formed. Members of Americans for Prosperity, Nashville GOP and other groups were outside the Downtown Public Library during the State of Metro address, holding signs reading "No property tax hike."
"Many of you undoubtedly walked past folks this morning who believe that property tax going up for any Nashvillian by any amount is unnecessary — just more government spending," O'Connell said. "These are the same people celebrating the chaos of federal cuts, which, make no mistake, are not about efficiency."
The mayor's address broke down his proposed budget into three pillars rooted in community reinvestment: schools, services and safety.
Metro Nashville Public Schools stand to receive a 13% budget increase from last fiscal year. MNPS makes up 37% of the total Metro budget. Focus areas for investment include college and career readiness programs, mental health support, special education support, and additional security and safety measures.
"This budget lets us keep a nurse in every school, and MNPD will add another 23 new school resource officers to enhance safety," O'Connell said.
The city has already begun program implementation of its transit improvement plan, and the recommended budget outlines the continuation of that process.
O'Connell's budget also recommends a $45 million commitment to increase funding for affordable housing. That includes continued investment in the Barnes Housing Trust Fund, increased funding for the Office of Homeless Services and expansion of the Metro Development and Housing Agency's Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program.
That comes after Metro released its Unified Housing Strategy, a multipronged plan to address high housing costs in Davidson County and promote the creation of affordable homes.
"To be clear, we as a community will need to find room and funding for 90,000 homes over the next decade if we want to have any hope of enough people having secure, stable housing at any income level," O'Connell said.
The Metro Planning Department will revisit Nashville's existing zoning policies and building codes in order to identify potential changes needed to allow more housing construction, O'Connell said.
Finally, O'Connell reiterated his focus on public safety and outlined recommended areas for investment. His budget proposes an additional $49.6 million for Nashville first responders, including funding for new fire trucks, EMS personnel, additional fire marshal staff and the expansion of the REACH (Responders Engaged and Committed to Help) program, which pairs mental health co-responders with fire and EMS teams.
"The state of Metro today is where many cities would like to be," O'Connell said. "School performance is up. We've improved both benchmarking and performance of city services. Crime is down. People want to be here. And we want to make it easier to stay. And that's much of the work we're going to be leaning into even harder starting today."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: State of Metro: Nashville mayor outlines 'challenging' budget cycle
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