Nashville Mayor John Cooper says voter control over property tax rollbacks and increases is unconstitutional – and that voters are uninformed for supporting it. The mayor made this assertion during a Wednesday press conference explaining Metro’s new budget.
The mayor responded to reporter questions about what potential consequences would occur if the taxpayer referendum – the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act led by 4 Good Government – were to pass, and what the city would do about the potential financial blow. Cooper said that government officials have the ultimate control and final say on that matter. He noted that the 34 to 37 percent property tax increase last year “never really was that high.” Cooper said that community upset over the increase was no longer relevant because “that is so last year – that is so 2020.”
“I don’t think that the alleged choice that’s being made in the referendum is, in fact, a constitutional choice for people in Tennessee. Property tax rates are set by county legislative bodies and not by referendums. You can’t really go backwards in time and restate property tax rates,” said Cooper. “Also, if you feel strongly that whatever was the perceived need for a referendum on property tax rate was also quite outdated. Our current property tax rate is the third-lowest in our history. I mean, it never really was that high. I mean, it was always below our median, it was always the lowest in the state of Tennessee. It was below our median for Nashville, even when we had to make the adjustment last year in a crisis environment to deal with problems.”
Cooper also called the referendum supporters a “small group effort.” Signatures gathered for the referendum nearly doubled the amount of signatures gathered to create Nashville’s Community Oversight Board.
Cooper characterized the tax increase as a “moment of courage” displayed by himself and Metro Nashville City Council. He also claimed that those in support of the referendum were uninformed.
“I think the people signing the petition were probably under-informed, right, about what they were signing,” said Cooper. “And as the country gets beyond a kind of a moment of divisiveness in the last year that we in Nashville can take pride that we’re able to work together to solve our problems and produce better outcomes with historically low tax rate[s]. So, let’s go do that and keep our eye on the future and not on the past.”
Cooper said that none of the amendments in the referendum were really “fair,” and that’s why they should be considered unconstitutional. The foremost concern he expressed had to do with the financial incentives for government employees.
“Can you really walk back the benefits that you’ve offered elected public officials? You know?” asked Cooper. “Can you all of a sudden say that you’re going to have a referendum on the pension of our county court clerk after they’ve taken the job and been serving? You couldn’t do that to private citizens. Just because you’re in the public space does that allow you to be uniquely targeted?”
As the vote draws closer, Cooper has increasingly vocalized his opposition to the taxpayer referendum efforts. Earlier this month, Cooper gave a speech to a church about the dangers of the referendum.
“You are creating a path for anarchy in Nashville, Tennessee that will not end well, all because there is this path of super-small, weaponized kind of Trump-oriented divisiveness that enters into Nashville,” said Cooper.
The mayor alluded that the referendum, if passed, would cause the kind of difficulty currently facing California. Cooper blamed California’s financial woes and subsequent mass exodus on citizen-based referendums.
“This is how California got into its current trouble. Everything [there] is done by referendum,” claimed Cooper. “Everybody is counting on people using their worst judgment, their smallest moments, to go to the ballot box and vote that way. What has been the result?”
Earlier this month, 4 Good Government released a series of short videos explaining each of the amendments within the referendum.
The vote on the referendum will occur on July 27.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
Next he’ll call the referendum racist, bigoted, homophobic, and Islamaphobic.
California’s problems did not stem from voter passed propositions. Voters passed measures regarding everything from immigration to water and roads. They were ignored by leftist politicians and, the money raised through bond sales was funneled into their pet projects rewarding well placed friends and donners. It is theft and deceit that is the cause, a cause that Cooper champions.
““Everybody is counting on people using their worst judgment, their smallest moments, to go to the ballot box and vote that way. What has been the result?”
He’s right. That’s how we got Biden.