Nashville Mayor John Cooper warned this week that the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, if enacted, will disable the city, but the group that fought for it said Cooper’s time and energies are best spent helping taxpayers.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act would roll back Cooper’s 34-37 percent tax increase and limit property tax rate increases to 2 percent every year without voters approving it.
Voters are scheduled to decide during a December 5 referendum. Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN) helped gather the requisite number of signatures to make that referendum happen.
In a press release, Cooper spokesman Chris Song said the amendment would, among other things, create a $332 million deficit for this fiscal year, threaten Metro’s credit rating, and suspend capital projects. He also said it would cut the city’s emergency response, schools, trash collection, and road repair services.
“Financial rating agencies would likely downgrade Metro’s financial outlook and outstanding bonds if the charter amendment is even placed on the ballot,” Song said in the press release.
“This may result in increased borrowing costs and limit Metro’s ability to complete significant transactions and refinancing. A credit rating downgrade would make every city project more expensive for taxpayers.”
AFP-TN State Director Tori Venable addressed Cooper’s press release in an email to The Tennessee Star Tuesday.
“His [Cooper’s] first statement said they would cut police & fire jobs, instead of furloughing even one position from Nashville’s over-bloated government bureaucracy,” Venable said.
“Now he claims it will render schools unrecognizable – which they already are based on MNPS inability to fully open schools or at least give parents a viable option that works best for their children.”
Venable, in a press release of her own, said that Nashvillians “now can have their say on this harmful 34 percent property tax hike.”
“If the government can’t restrain itself, we the people will act to restrain the government. Mayor Cooper’s unrealistic scare tactics won’t work; we look forward to voters proving it at the polls and making their voices heard in December,” Venable said.
“What’s dangerous is the fact some members of the Metro Council are already plotting to reject voters and taxpayers having their voice heard on this issue that will have real consequences for families and businesses. The Metro Council needs to stop looking for ways to force this tax hike on Nashville and focus on addressing the root causes of reckless spending and cronyist taxpayer-incentive deals that put us in this situation.”
As reported last month, Nashville attorney Jim Roberts said that Metro officials “clearly don’t like having power taken away.”
“Nashville is on its way towards financial stability. The citizens have clearly rejected Mayor Cooper’s big-spending spree put on the backs of home owners and renters,” Roberts told The Star in an email.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “John Cooper” by John Cooper.
Cooper never met a tax he did not like. Nashville will look like Detroit soon.
“Warns”? No he THREATENED and unfortunately some will believe him. It will be an uphill battle on this Referendum. Not only that but the Council passed their resolution that says they are basically going to nullify and ignore the Vote if it goes against the 34%.
Nashville is lost. We just moved and are selling our house in Davidson. Best of luck to those of you, other than the committed progs and libs, who are staying.
Nashville is becoming another Chicago, NYC, etc. You liberals voted him in but are now complaining. The sad thing is that you will replace him with another liberal. Liberals are eternally stuck on stupid.
Actually, Chicken Coop, YOU are dooming the city.
Legalize Marijuana and tax it.
David – It would be less of a problem to just legalize prostitution and tax it at 50%.
I am already surrounded by drugheads as it is.
Or we could legalize stupidity, tax it at 1% and have record breaking revenue.
Yes, more drugs is clearly what we need in our society.
38 years ago I moved to Nashville to attend David Lipscomb University. It has been my home since, my family has lived (and died) here, and my children were born here. Nashville has been a great place to live, until recently. 50 years of continued liberal policies, union controlled government, and “progressive” thought has now turned this city into a trash bin and a disaster economically. Leadership like Cooper is what you can expect moving forward and only more of the leftist politics. My time here is coming to an end as my wife and I are selling and moving out of this county. God be with those of you who stay!
With every tax increase and fee increase in Davidson County, more Middle Class families and individuals move to Williamson, Rutherford, Cheatham, Dickson, Robertson, Wilson, Sumner, and Maury Counties. They are replaced by newcomers from places like SoCal, NY, and Illinois, making the county bluer and bluer. In 10-15 years, Nashville will just be another shell of a city like St. Louis, where all the former residents have moved outside the jurisdiction. When you Nashvillians move, please stay away from Leipers Fork.
Do Democrats every get tired of the same old dire threats. It is ALWAYS the police, Fire, Teachers, that will have to be let go. I have kept up with this story, and have not seen one effort to cut ANY budget for anything. Do they really think the people have not seen and continue to see waste in spending? One easy to save on the budget is stop the practice of forcing every department to spend ALL of the money in the budget every year. Every year we all see these people spending a great deal of money on thing they do not really need in the fear that the budget will be cut if the money is not spent. NOT pay the city council members heath care for life along with their family would be a great step to saving money. And this is just a start. MAYBE not spending more money than you have would work, you know just like the rest of us.
The Metro Council made no effort to cut anything from the budget and expects taxpayers to pay for the shortfall due to bad management. Um, no. Many taxpayers are still trying to recover from the tornadoes and Mayor Cooper’s extended lockdown. The council also has deferred the vote on their lifetime benefits until March 2021. That does allow for some time for people to forget about this, recover from the bad economy, and be doing better so when they vote to keep their benefits people are not as mad. There must be continued pressure to end this only in Nashville benefit.
Maybe Mini Coop and Nashville ought to consider living within their means, like the rest of us have to do! This continued borrowing of good money on top of bad is the symptom of the real problem. New-age Democrat policy makers are addicts. They’re addicted to your money.
Wake up America, and vote them ALL out, before it’s too late!
Chicken Coop with typical scare tactics.
Comrade Cooper will have a lot of garbage to pickup because citizens may dump their garbage in his yard – trash for our trashy lying mayor, what scum this POS is. Money cannot help Metro Schools that’s not the problem, it’s Democratic leadership. This idiot does not realize how the people of Nashville really loathe him and the commie council, they will soon find out. My commie council member voted for lifetime health insurance, enjoy it you have just lost your job, now you can work full time for LBGTQ.
All but 4-5 council members are solidly behind Cooper’s reckless spending and taxing. They will do every dirty trick on his behalf, and are not interested in anything but maintaining power. They are our enemies.