Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, the Metro Nashville government, and the Davidson County Election Commission were sued on Wednesday by the Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax and its leader, Emily Evans, who asked a court to declare the mayor’s successful Choose How You Move transit referendum illegal under the 2017 IMPROVE Act.
The lawsuit notes the IMPROVE ACT, as passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2017, specifically allows local governments to fund transit systems by imposing a sales tax of up to 0.5 percent. The bill specifically outlines what types of spending are considered transit:
‘Public transit system’ any mass transit system intended for shared passenger transport services to the general public, together with any building, structure, appurtenance, utility, transport support facility, transport vehicles, service vehicles, parking facility, or any other facility, structure, vehicle, or property needed to operate the transportation facility or provide connectivity for the transportation facility to any other non-mass transit system transportation infrastructure, including, but not limited to, interstates, highways, roads, streets, alleys, and sidewalks.”
It also notes the 2017 legislation defines a Transit Improvement Program as “a program consisting of specified public transit system projects and services.”
Despite these definitions, the lawsuit notes O’Connell’s Choose How You Move referendum includes spending for modern traffic signals, new sidewalks, and increased bike lanes, and allegedly pursued a “campaign of misinformation” to convince Nashville voters these were covered under the 2017 IMPROVE Act.
“Notwithstanding the clear language and intent of the Act and in an attempt to manipulate the voters into supporting the surcharge, the Mayor intentionally included projects which had public appeal, such as sidewalks, streets and signals, but which were not permitted under the Act,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit additionally acknowledges the 2017 IMPROVE Act allows sales taxes raised under the legislation to be used on other infrastructure in order to provide connectivity for a transit system, the Evans and the committee argue, “much of the Mayor’s Plan relies on the expansive and unintended use of the term ‘connectivity.'”
Beyond the alleged violations of the 2017 law’s definitions, the lawsuit alleges that O’Connell convinced voters to approve his referendum without explaining how the federal funding it requires will be distributed to Nashville.
“Another fundamental flaw of the Mayor’s Plan is that it purports to rely on $1.4 billion in federal funding through the Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant Program, however, though the plan notes that the federal grant is a ‘major’ source of funding, it does not provide any information on when and how such federal funds will be acquired,” the lawsuit alleges. “The Mayor fails to provide any reliable information that the application for the federal grant will be approved and, in fact, the Ordinance which adopted the Plan states that the Plan only ‘has the potential to unlock’ federal funding and the Plan acknowledges that the grant process is ‘highly competitive.'”
Concerns about the legality of O’Connell’s referendum were first raised by Nashville Tea Party founder and government watchdog Ben Cunningham, who called it “purely illegal” and has claimed it violates the 2017 legislation since at least April.
The mayor cited the approval of the referendum by 66 percent of voters in a statement to Fox 17 Nashville, when he claimed his transportation plan “was fully vetted by attorneys, accountants, the Metro Council, and ultimately the people of Nashville.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo ‘Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’ by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.Â
