As the Council moves forward with the final review of the Mayor's budget and any possible substitute and amendments, I once again do my best to absorb all the data and facts as they have been made available. I
watch all of the early budget conversations with the Mayor and each department. I attend or
watch on tape all of the Budget and Finance committee meetings. ( I am not on the committee itself).
I read through the summaries and dive deeper into the paper when I have a question. I speak directly to Department heads when I need clarity.
As a District representative, it is my job to first look at direct impacts on my area of Davidson County, and then to that of the whole.
As promised, I have had an open and fearless debate on new revenue and where it should be directed. We need to do our best to ensure our District thrives and our city continues to push to have its prosperity extend to the county line and into the neighborhoods. These conversations over the last year lead me to believe that you can tolerate a tax rate increase, but ONLY if you clearly understand where the money is going and how it will affect your life.
Nearly 60% of you have done so already with a successful move from the GSD ( General Service District) to the USD (Urban Service District). You have seen 977 street lights go up and have access to trash and now recycling when you had none before. Developers have been required to build sidewalks in Madison because of the new USD status and our property taxes in the newly annexed area are at last paying our fair share for Police and Fire services.
The proposed amendment for the rate increase does a lot of good things that we must address, namely help for Metro Schools. My concern is for what it left out and the policy structure behind the intent for it to succeed, and how this would affect District 8.
These are a handful of things I've heard from you that also need public support:
Police
Fire
Emergency
Sidewalks
Transit
Traffic Calming
Historic Preservation
Parks Plan to Play
Arts and Culture funding
Senior Support
Small and Micro Business Development
Tourism Zone amending
One thing is absolute - we as a city have a lot to talk about. Together, with the administration, we will prioritize what we should do with any additional revenue. I hope that we can do that quickly. This month of June, I will be working to achieve a clear understanding of where your tax dollars are going and what is being left behind. I will continue to ask for all of us to keep talking until we get it right.
