Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell will reportedly announce the full contents of his transit referendum, called “Choose How You Move,” on April 19.
O’Connell will outline his full plans for the future of transit in Nashville next week, with both the Nashville Post and the Nashville Business Journal confirming the April 19 unveiling will be held one week from Friday at the Southeast Community Center in Antioch.
The Business Journal noted that O’Connell has so far confirmed his plan involves direct funding for “38 miles of around-the-clock” bus operations Murfressboro, Gallatin, Dickerson and Nolensville, as well as 86 miles of new sidewalks.
O’Connell also confirmed his proposal will include plans for 600 new traffic signals, which he claimed will either be technologically advanced or remote controlled to better accommodate the city’s traffic.
Metro Nashville Councilman Jeff Eslick recently remarked that the traffic signals are the “part of this plan that would help traffic” in the city during an appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Though the mayor has held a series of community events to gather feedback ahead of his proposal, which will reportedly require a half-cent sales tax increase, O’Connell has also sought to gain the support of Nashville business leaders.
In March, the Business Journal reported the mayor organized a meeting of “exclusive and prominent” Tennessee businessmen, lobbyists and university representatives to pitch his transit plan. The outlet reported that many in attendance were instrumental in supporting the failed transit referendum pushed in 2018 by disgraced former Mayor Megan Barry.
Nashville Tea Party founder Ben Cunningham has branded the plan by O’Connell a “greendoggle,” and warned in March the half-cent sales tax expected to fund the transit plan will be “just a small down payment” on its eventual cost.
Cunningham explained the program is expected to rely on federal grants that are widely expected to expire, leaving taxpayers on the hook for a “transit ‘fiscal cliff'” across the United States. In Nashville, he warned, “At some point the federal funding will stop and the gap can only be filled by local revenue, i.e., huge future property tax increases.”
Should O’Connell succeed with his transit referendum, the top sales tax paid in Nashville consumers would be 10.25 percent.
The top sales tax rate paid by consumers in Nashville is currently 9.75 percent. State and local sales taxes account for 9.25 percent, but many Nashville businesses push the cost of the city’s Central Business Improvement District (CBID) fee to consumers, amounting to another 0.5 percent tax on expenses.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell” by Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
