There is a Metro Council Meeting tonight at 6:00 pm. We are back in-person this evening at the Music City Center - Please join us if you'd like... An agenda has been provided, and you can watch the meeting live via channel 3 or stream live on your electronic devices. Also, please do not respond to this email... You can reach me at [email protected].
Tonight we will be discussing the budget... These bills are on public hearing. By law, we must vote on a balanced budget by June 30 each year or the previous years budget will prevail as the new budget.
CM Zulfat Suara created a very detailed list of highlights. See below...
- Schools: For the first time in many years, the mayor’s FY22 budget is fully funding MNPS. This is an $81 million increase from last year’s budget aimed mostly at improving teachers’ compensation, especially for mid-career educators.
- Affordable Housing: $2.5 million dollar increase to the Barnes Funds spending (from $10 to $12.5 million) with additional federal aid to create an overall increase of $37 million.
- Police: $16 million increase (from $210 to $226 million) in an effort to staff a new precinct in Southeast Nashville.
- Transit: $25 million increase to return us to a normal level after federal funds allowed the budget to relax last year (+$1 million to fund technology improvements on the commuter rail).
- Livability: Increases in parks (+ $4 million) and arts (+ $0.5 million).
- $52 million in real, organic budget growth
- As projected for June 30, we will have $314 million in savings (this is still below the $400 million in fund balance/savings that the Government Finance Officers Association would recommend, but it is still an improvement)
- Debt service (the amount that a city pays for debt) is finally decreasing for the first time since 2015 and rests at 13.6% this year (which is in the “safe” range of 8%-15%)
- A 7.3% increase in potential spending dollars (now $2.65 billion)
What I've Been Up To:
- Working to finalize legislation to reduce the criminal justice fines and fees. I told you this will be filed by the next meeting, but we have hit a few roadblocks. We are working through the challenges and I will keep you updated.
- There is a new Police Commander in North Precinct, Cmdr. Anthony McClain. I will be hosting an outdoor "Meet My Commander" meeting in the coming months. Meeting will be the first week of August.
- License Plate Readers (LPRs) Survey: I sent you a quick, 4-question survey regarding your thoughts on LPRs last week. Thank you for responding, if you haven't had the chance to complete the survey please do so now.
What's Happening Tonight
There is a public hearing tonight for the budget.
The following legislative items will be considered on 2nd reading during the Public Hearing.
BL2021-752 - This ordinance adopts the Capital Improvements Budget (CIB) for fiscal year 2021-2022 through 2026-2027. A link <https://www.nashville.gov/Portals/0/SiteContent/Planning/docs/CIB/2022/FY22_CIB_MayDraft.pdf>to the CIB is posted on the Council’s webpage. The CIB is a planning document and does not in itself appropriate any money. All capital projects must be provided for in this document before a capital improvement can be approved by the Council, except in the case of a public emergency.
BL2021-736 - This is the FY22 Metro Budget Bill... See what's in this bill, follow this link.
Dates to remember:
- No new neighborhood meetings scheduled at this time.
Lets Connect:
I invite all District 21 residents to reach out to me directly with any information or concerns in our community. Email is the best form of communication, but invite you to call me as well. My contact information is below.
Contact information: Email - [email protected] / Phone: 615.946.9700
Best regards,
Brandon
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