Nashville Council Proposes Larger Pay Raise for City Workers and Additional Investment in Youth Violence Prevention in New Budget

Nashville Council Proposes Larger Pay Raise for City Workers in New Budget

An alternate budget proposition for the Nashville 2025 financial year has been proposed by the Metro Council, promising to provide city employees with a 4% cost-of-living raise. This revised budget also includes an investment of an additional $1 million towards youth violence prevention programs, along with allocations of about $4 million directed towards other goals related to equity.

Despite the city’s projected revenue remaining more or less steady compared to the previous year, the 2025 budget is somewhat strained. At-large Metro Council member Delishia Porterfield led the efforts in shaping this alternate budget, and she affirms the proposal offers increased backing for employees in both the Metro and Metro Nashville Public Schools, all without creating more strain on the city departments.

Alternate Proposed Budget Explained

The original $3.27 billion budget, proposed by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, required Metro departments to reduce their costs by 1.4%. However, the current alternate budget, led by Porterfield, still needs the endorsement of the 40-member council body. The Metro Council will deliberate on the budget at its June 18 meeting.

Alluding to Mayor O’Connell’s original budget, Porterfield remarked that it formed a “great starting point.” A sum of almost $12 million is reassigned in the alternative budget to deal with a host of priorities. These include a raise from 3.5% to 4% in the cost-of-living adjustment for the staff at Metro and MNPS, $1 million invested in youth violence prevention under the Varsity Spending Plan, and a series of other key areas of funding.

Source of Funding

Porterfield avoided resorting to further departmental budget cuts to exclude reductions in public services or job losses. Instead, she identified administrative savings and used reserve funds. Some of the identified key funding sources include $4 million from the 4% fund, $2.4 million from the Judgment and Losses fund, $1.8 million from the Self-insured liability fund among other administrative savings.

Wages for Metro and MNPS Employees

Overall, Porterfield expressed that the 4% cost-of-living adjustment coupled with merit and step raises will elevate 95% of staff wages across Metro and MNPS to a total 7% wage increase. She also stressed the inherent balance of the budget.

“The budget needs to be mutually beneficial for everyone, whether you’re a city employee or whether you’re a resident; there still needs to be some benefit for you,” Porterfield said.

Youth Violence Prevention Initiatives

A significant portion of the people who came forward at a public hearing on June 4 to discuss the budget supported the “Varsity Spending Plan.” Of the allocated $1 million for this plan in the revised budget, $750,000 would be used to create an Office of Youth Safety while the remaining $250,000 would go towards enhanced community center programming.

Porterfield appreciated the advocacy efforts of the youth, saying ” we had young people who organized and came out and they participated in the democratic process of speaking to their elected officials and advocating for what they needed for their community.”