60th State of Metro Remarks
John Cooper
Mayor, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
Preamble
Vice Mayor Shulman, Pro Temp Toombs, council members, my fellow Nashvillians…I’m honored to join you today at this magnificent new James Lawson High School for the 60th annual State of Metro.
Building a Stronger Nashville
Reverend Lawson taught and trained Nashville students in the principles of nonviolent protest, molding young civil rights leaders including John Lewis and Diane Nash.
Naming our first new high school in 15 years for Nashville’s great teacher of nonviolence is a powerful moment worth celebrating.
This $150 million facility is one of four completely new schools funded this term. For comparison, 6 new schools were funded in the previous four terms.
Principal Schaeffer, you’re going to have a lot to be proud of. We’re all expecting big, big things in the years ahead.
Teachers and students deserve to teach and learn in first-class facilities. The Council and I are proud to have invested over half a billion dollars in capital improvements in our schools since 2020.
Three years ago, I presented a “crisis budget” in an empty council chamber during the pandemic. We faced multiple emergencies. We were forced to make tough decisions to keep our city moving forward, decisions about our ability to keep the lights on.
Then, 2021 brought an “investment budget” that included significant increases in funding to first responders and making MNPS teachers the best paid in Tennessee.
Last year was a budget for “full recovery” – turning the page on crisis and addressing a generation of problems that had been handed down.
And it’s working.
The investments we have made together have taken our city government from crisis to recovery. This state-of-the-art new high school is just one of those many investments.
In our 60th year as a Metropolitan Government, Nashville is stronger than at any point in our history. We have the strongest job market in the country, having just surpassed Austin, Texas for that title. Our unemployment rate is a mere 2.8 percent. We’re in the 97th percentile in the country for job growth, and wages are rising at the fifth highest clip in the nation. Even with our growth, our cost of living is lower than in Austin, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Miami, or Atlanta.
We remain the lowest tax city in the lowest tax state in the country. Even in Austin – in another state with no income tax -- homeowners pay an effective rate 29 percent higher than in Nashville. And homeowners pay a higher tax rate in cities all across Tennessee —Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, much less Jackson, Clarksville, Johnson City, Oak Ridge, Cookeville.
We can feel that our city is alive, growing, and the envy of cities across the country. The choice before us is not whether to stop growing, it’s how will we grow. To grow with investment. To make us a better city on the other side of all this growth.
Public investments in Nashville’s streets and parks and schools have to keep pace with the private sector investments in our skyline. We all know the NBJ’s “crane watch” is one way to track private sector growth. But that alone doesn’t measure a city.
A truly great city tracks:
- police recruit classes
- school funding per student
- neighborhood infrastructure investments
- Affordable housing units created
These are the kind of metrics you measure to know if you are building a great city.
Financial Stewardship
When my term began, the threat of a state takeover of Metro’s finances loomed over Nashville. In this term, there have been generational historic financial improvements. Gone are the days of selling property to balance the budget — of not being able to fund basic repairs and maintenance.
Our cash reserves were once totally depleted. Now, we have a fund balance policy and two months of reserves. Finally, Metro has a rainy day fund to weather the next storm, whatever form that may take.
Earlier this year, Kroll Bond Rating Agency recognized our financial turnaround by giving Metro a AA+ rating, one notch below triple-A. Kelly Flannery and our entire finance department, along with our Metro Council, should be applauded for this result, which is a reward for fiscal stewardship.
All the progress we are making as a city is made possible because we fixed our finances. These last three years have been a golden age of fixing government, made possible by investments from taxpayers, federal assistance and stewardship.
We are funding public safety in Nashville: 526 new positions across police, fire, EMS, emergency management and E-911. Our public school’s funding per student is up 46% this term. $3.3 Billion is being invested in neighborhood infrastructure. And while other cities were forced to use federal relief funds to sustain basic operations, our financial stability enabled Nashville to make generational investments in our core priorities.
That’s why no city in America was able to commit a greater share of federal pandemic relief funds into housing than Nashville. We were able to invest five times the national average, because we are good stewards.
More on that later.
We have fully recovered from crisis. This budget is the foundation for tomorrow. We have improved the fundamentals of government – on the balance sheet and in service delivery all across Davidson County. And we have done right by our Metro employees, the people who make this city work for you every day.
That continues this year, with a pay increase of 7% across ALL Metro. STEP raises of 3% and a 4% COLA for all Metro employees, for a second straight year. Once again, Nashville is a national leader in wage growth for our employees.
A Day in Nashville
In this speech, I’m going to highlight how our Metro employees are 1) putting our investments to work for your neighborhood every day, and 2) talk more about how we’ve created a platform for innovation to address the new problems of a growing city. You will hear dramatic improvements across every category.
Recycling
So, let’s start at 5 am in Nashville. Our Metro Waste Services team – is clocking in for the day. The over 100,000 residents who participate in recycling used to have once-a-month pick up. But as of earlier this year, curbside recycling pickup is now every other week.
This is a huge step toward achieving our zero-waste goal.
Bus Driver Pay
A little bit later, at 5:30 in the morning, M-N-P-S bus drivers are on their way to pick up kids for school. Some of these same bus drivers rushed to the Covenant School just a few weeks ago to transport students shaken by the attack.
When I took office, the starting pay for bus drivers was just under $15 an hour. Now the starting pay is nearly 50% higher, at over $22 an hour. Last year some bus drivers saw as much as a $14,000 RAISE.
Paying Metro employees a living wage is something I’ve felt strongly about since my first day in office. I’m proud that we’ve established an $18.50 minimum wage across every department.
Affordable Housing
At 5:59 a.m., the sun begins to rise over Nashville. Many Nashvillians are waking up in homes that have dramatically risen in value. People across the country value what we have here.
Ensuring every family has access to affordable housing is not a Nashville-specific challenge. but, it is a challenge we have to face head-on.
Two years ago, we formed an Affordable Housing Task Force to guide our city’s strategy. The Task Force set a very ambitious goal of making available 5,000 housing units per year for residents making under 80% of Area Median Income. It sounded like one of those ‘government goals’ that maybe just wasn’t going to happen. And no time soon.
But, today, I can proudly say we will put more than 5,000 units into the pipeline next fiscal year. That ambition is becoming a reality. And, a majority of those will be for residents 60% of AMI or below.
Here’s how.
We created a new, dedicated Housing Division in Metro Planning. We’ve grown the Barnes Fund. In my term, the Barnes Fund allocations will surpass $140 million. That means 75% of total Barnes Fund grants all-time have happened this term. Next year, for the third year in a row, we will invest $30m in the Barnes Fund – a key task force recommendation.
But we are no longer relying solely on the Barnes Fund. We’ve created a $20 million Catalyst Fund for preservation. We’ve launched the Mixed Income PILOT. For perspective, back in 2019, Nashville added under 1,000 units of affordable housing. Now, during this current year, through all of these tools and investments, we expect more than 3,700 units to come online.
And today, I have a proposal for the Metro Council special committee on tax abatements. Let’s double down on what works by increasing the Mixed Income Tax Abatement program from a $3 million cap to a $5 million cap.
With that additional investment, with that additional step, and with the tools we’ve added, our fantastic housing director Angie Hubbard believes our 5,000 unit goal for affordable housing will be achieved this next fiscal year.
Metro Nashville Public Schools
Just 5 minutes later, the 7:05 bell rings and high school students across Nashville are beginning a day of learning.
I’ve long said the people who care for our kids should be able to afford to care for their own kids.
Over four years, we’ve made a generational investment to improve schools, and added nearly $300 million ($293.5M) in new, recurring spending …including $100m in new spending in this budget. That’s the largest increase over a four-year period in the history of Metro. By far.
Over half of that new spending goes directly into the pockets of our teachers and support staff through salary increases and benefits at every level. All this in a state that’s in the bottom 10 in the country in per student spending.
Nashville has stepped up while the state contribution has remained completely flat to Davidson County. As an example, when I came into office, a Metro teacher with 12 years of experience was making $48,000. Now, that same teacher – with a revised salary curve, steps, and cost-of-living adjustments –is making over $67,000. That is a 39% increase. And our teachers deserve it.
Investments in our teachers are paying off. While teacher turnover is rising nationally after the pandemic, in Nashville we are seeing turnover go down. When I took office, Metro was spending almost $3,000 less per student than the national average. Now we are ahead.
And in just one term, we’ve done something unimaginable just a few years ago. And we should be proud. We have increased our per pupil spending by nearly $5,000 to $15,660 per student. That is a 46% increase over what we were spending per pupil when I took office. This is the biggest increase that I know of in the whole country.
Paving/Stormwater
As Nashvillians commute to work, they are driving on streets maintained by our hard-working NDOT crews. Last year, Metro paved 240% more road-miles than in the year before. Thanks to the hub and infrared technology, potholes are being repaired quicker and more effectively than ever.
And over the past four years, we have completed over 1,000 separate capital projects aimed at preventing roadway flooding and managing storm water so we can keep roads open and Nashville moving.
Transit
Commuters on WeGo bus routes from Madison, to East Nashville, Whites Creek, Dickerson Pike, Antioch, The Nations, Bordeaux and across the city are also seeing benefits of another city investment.
When I ran for mayor, I committed to creating covered, well-lit bus stops where riders can wait safely and comfortably. Since I took office, WeGo has installed 76 new bus shelters to make commutes easier and safer. That’s a nearly 40% increase from 4 years ago.
And North Nashville WeGo riders will soon see their commute times cut by 20 to 30 minutes in each direction. The Dr. Ernest Rip Patton, Jr. North Nashville Transit Center is named for the legendary civil rights leader and freedom rider. We’ve broken ground on that new facility, and it is set to open in the spring of next year. Once open, the transit hub will give North Nashville residents direct access to neighborhoods like East Nashville, Metro Center, Germantown, Midtown, Hillsboro Village, and Wedgewood.
In our near future, we’ll add another major mobility hub on the East Bank. This growing transit network will give Nashvillians more fast, affordable and reliable transportation options.
Covenant School Tragedy
Now we’re full swing into a day in Nashville. Folks are busy at work, learning in school, running errands, or perhaps volunteering at a nonprofit. But as we experienced recently, sometimes the unthinkable happens.
One month ago today, at a little past 10 a.m. -- it happened here in Nashville. Six innocent souls were taken from us because of gun violence at The Covenant School. It was Nashville’s worst day. And our entire city’s heart was shattered.
We continue to pray for, and assist the families and community members enduring the aftermath of this tragedy. We want those families to be the last in Nashville to know that unimaginable pain.
Like all of us, I’m hopeful that we will see common sense gun violence legislation passed this summer at the special session. Last week, I joined the Mayor of Chattanooga, Knoxville and Shelby County to recommend ten policy proposals to reduce gun violence that have been proven effective in other states. And this budget funds our Health Department to begin a gunlock-by-mail program inspired by success seen this year in Shelby County.
But let us here today, show our deep appreciation for the first responders who prevented a horrible day from being even worse. The emergency call center operators. The firemen. The paramedics. The police officers. Running to danger, acting with clarity and precision, to save lives.
Some of these national heroes are with us today, and I’d like to ask them to stand and be recognized.
On our darkest day, your courage shone through. Your service inspires us all. You are our heroes. Your bravery will never be forgotten.
Metro Nashville Police Department
That tragic day is an important reminder why it’s essential that Metro continues to support our first responders.
Four years ago, first year officers made $49,000. Now, with this budget, they will make $65,000. Police officer pay has increased 32% over four years, unmatched by our peer cities. For example, over the same four year period, police officer pay in Austin was up just 10.5%, 10% in Denver, 4% in Memphis, 4% in Baltimore, and 13% in Raleigh. The men and women charged with protecting our city deserve a job that pays well, and has great benefits.
We’re also adding more officers at a higher rate than ever to make Nashville safer. On July 3, I will swear in my 470th officer since becoming Mayor, and I hope to get to 500 this fall with the next two recruiting classes.
A lot of that is due to the incredible leadership of Chief Drake, who has shown the city and the entire country why MNPD is a model police force.
Nashville Fire Department/Emergency Medical Services/911
We’ve also significantly bolstered our emergency response resources to meet the safety needs of a growing city.
Over four years, we’ve funded 131 new firefighters – including 39 more this year -- so our department now meets the national standard of 5 per company responding to an emergency or a rescue situation. In fact, this year’s new $15 million investment for Nashville Fire will mean the department will be at full staffing for the first time since 2001.
We’re also paying firefighters more. The starting salary for firefighters has increased 28% over the last four years. And we’ve added 115 paramedics, who have also seen a 33% pay increase – or roughly $21,000. And they are needed.
Our emergency communications center is fielding roughly 3,000 calls a day. To handle that volume, we’ve added 54 new emergency communications staff. A new class of 39 new dispatchers will start this Monday. Despite the increase in call volume, our investments mean we’re staying ahead of the curve. Since bringing in Director Martini and fully staffing the E-9-1-1, we’ve seen a 12% improvement in response times.
We’ve also added 81 new firetrucks and ambulances, and 677 new police vehicles to better respond to emergencies. In this year’s budget, General Services will add 21 new positions and establish an overnight shift for servicing Metro vehicles – to keep these vehicles on the road instead of in the lot waiting to be serviced.
We must give our first responders the resources they need to continue responding with speed, efficiency, and professionalism – just as they are doing now.
Homelessness
Throughout the day, Metro’s Homeless outreach teams are working with our unhoused residents.
Homelessness is our city’s most human challenge. We join other cities in the country in this great concern. Here in Nashville, we are stepping up to meet the challenge. One year ago, I declared Nashville a “housing first” city and announced an ambitious $50 million homelessness response plan that finally matches the magnitude of the problem.
We’re just in the first phase of a three-year plan, but I’m excited to say we are outpacing our goals. Last year, we set a goal to house 25 chronically unhoused people each month. We have met and exceeded that goal -- now housing 31 per month. And we will grow from here. We need to continue to grow our capabilities and serve 50 then 60 per month. 383 chronically unsheltered people are now in housing thanks to the work done in the past 12 months.
We have been able to close unsafe homeless encampments at Brooke Meade Park and the Caldwell Wentworth soccer fields. That success has been made possible thanks to our community partners, doubling our recurring investment and adding more than 20 new staff focused on outreach, housing navigation, and landlord engagement.
We are launching our first standalone Office of Homeless Services in July.
In the next 18 months, 758 additional units are coming online at over 10 sites to serve our unhoused neighbors. At our current pace, we will house all of Nashville’s chronically homeless population in the next three years.
There is much work to be done, to be sure. But what’s most important in all these numbers are the people. Housing is healthcare. We are saving the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors using a trauma-informed approach.
Metro Nashville Public Schools Paid Family Leave
We’ve talked a lot about things happening around Nashville. One thing that isn’t happening – you’re no longer seeing MNPS teachers forced to choose between career and family.
I recently heard from Alison Brooks, a teacher at Apollo Middle School, who has been with MNPS for 17 years. Alison and her husband found out last August they’d be adopting a baby girl with only a month to prepare for her arrival. Before last year, Alison would have had to use vacation and sick days to take off work to welcome her new daughter. But extending Paid Family Leave to teachers meant Alison could focus on being a mom without having to worry about how she can keep her job.
Behavioral Health
At the end of the day, so much of what we do is about people. Using our role in government to help people, and make their lives better. That’s how I think about our behavioral health investments, which is part of our holistic approach to public safety.
Keeping the community safe isn’t just about investing in police.
We’ve built co-response teams for residents struggling with mental health. Partners in Care, which pairs mental health professionals with police officers, began in late 2021 and has been an enormous success. Last year, it answered over 3,000 calls and less than 4% of those call resulted in arrests.
I’m excited to announce that Partners in Care – which is currently running out of Central, South, North and Hermitage precincts, will be adding 14 new positions and expanding to the Midtown Hills and Madison precincts later this year.
Focusing on behavioral health as part of emergency response is good policy.
That’s why, for first time, we have added a non-law enforcement response when appropriate to free up ambulances and allow officers to focus on preventing and solving violent crimes.
The REACH PILOT began in February, and it’s early, but they’ve already responded to 157 incidents. Most of those incidents are resolved on site. For some, residents are transported to a crisis treatment center. Before REACH, all of these situations would have included a law enforcement response, or an emergency room visit.
After School
Continuing on with our day – when school lets out in the afternoon – thousands of MNPS students will participate in afterschool programs around the city. Our job doesn’t end when the bell rings.
We’ve increased funding to the Nashville After Zone Alliance – or NAZA --- by $2m over the past two years to support new summer programming, and transportation to after school activities for over one thousand students.
Every MNPS student now has a laptop and internet thanks to a $24 million investment we made during the pandemic.
We created an “Out-Of-School Locator”—a database for families across our city. Parents can use this online tool to find programs from over 60 different organizations throughout Nashville for their kids.
Litter/Trash
In the afternoon, our litter removal crews are ending their shift. In 2022, we removed 751 tons of litter, a 57% increase from the year before. We’re stepping up our litter-removal efforts further – including a $4.6 million investment and six new positions focused on cleaning up and sweeping our streets. We stabilized our trash services after the bankruptcy of our largest contractor last year. And with a renewed focus on litter, we can become one of the cleanest cities in this country.
Participatory Budgeting
It is now 4:30 in the afternoon and the playgrounds in our parks are full of joy.
Investing in our neighborhoods has been a top priority since day one. We‘re currently investing over $3.3 billion in over 800 neighborhood improvement projects. You can view these projects online and track our progress on everything from improving community centers, to replacing stormwater culverts, to adding sidewalks.
One direct pipeline into that process is participatory budgeting, or PB. At a time when democracy in Tennessee is on a lot of people’s minds, Metro is demonstrating how a revolutionary, grassroots approach to budgeting – can lead to quality of life improvements in our neighborhoods. For example: a new mural honoring Civil Rights attorney Alexander Looby. New HVAC for the Pearl-Cohn gym. Speed cushions on streets like Haynes Park Drive.
Participatory budgeting was such a success in Bordeaux and North Nashville during its first two years, we’re funding it county-wide with $10 million of ARP money this calendar year.
It was a bold experiment. And it is working.
Greenways
At 5:30 in the afternoon, cyclists and runners are hitting our greenways to get some exercise. Four years ago, traveling from Hermitage Hills neighborhood to the Stones River Greenway to Ravenwood Park to Percy Priest Trailhead on a bike meant you had to travel on local streets and cross 2 major roadways.
Now you can get there exclusively using our greenway network. This is the kind of connectivity we are committed to providing.
Over 10 additional miles of greenways are in the planning and design phase right now.
Traffic Calming/License Plate Readers
Before sunset at 7:30 p.m., families are walking their dogs in neighborhoods all across Nashville. I certainly do. In many neighborhoods, residents feel safer because of traffic calming. Since October 2019, we have funded 100 traffic calming projects in neighborhoods.
Another good reason to feel safe are the new License Plate Readers being piloted throughout the city.
LPRs are a proven technology that will allow us to solve serious crimes faster. I’m grateful to Council for helping design a six-month pilot program that deploys this new tool while protecting residents’ privacy and civil liberties.
LPRs will extend Metro Police’s efforts to immediately address robberies, pedestrian and cyclist hit-and-runs, street racing, missing persons situations and violent crime.
The question on all our minds is – are they working?
Well, just a few weeks ago, an LPR detected a stolen vehicle near Gallatin and Briley Parkway. Within one minute, MNPD monitored the vehicle safely using Air One – one of the two new helicopters funded during my term. Air One positively identified the vehicle using high-tech cameras unavailable on our old, Vietnam era aircrafts.
When officers apprehended the suspect, they found two Glock 23 pistols and enough fentanyl to kill 2,000 people.
I hope Council will approve the use of LPRs moving forward at the completion of the PILOT.
Downtown
As the day concludes, Nashville’s nightlife scene comes to life.
We are proud of being a world class destination, but our millions of visitors and thriving downtown also creates new challenges for our growing city. These challenges require innovative solutions and effective city management.
Our downtown must be a place to work and live – and be a place for local families, not just tourists. So, we are instituting guardrails to ensure our downtown continues to thrive while being safe, clean, and enjoyable.
Guardrails like sidewalk vending regulations to clean up our streets and make our downtown sidewalks safer. New requirements that construction projects keep sidewalks open. Common sense limitations on entertainment transportation vehicles to improve the flow of traffic.
We are working to protect our quality of life. Nashville’s new Director of Nightlife joins a network of professionals tasked with making their downtowns safe and livable, spanning cities from Amsterdam to Washington. One of our first targets is dialing down the noise to find harmony between visitors and neighbors.
We are adding two positions to our office of nightlife and two more in our Codes department, specifically to deal with noise enforcement. First time ever.
Looking Forward
This is a glimpse into your Metro Government. Dedicated public servants working for your family and this city every day, rain or shine.
In its 60th year, Metro Nashville is more productive, more diverse, and more effective than ever. We have improved basic government services. We have course corrected years of underinvestment. Fixed what’s broken:
You’ve heard powerful examples of how in just four years, we have reset the city’s priorities.
- Public school funding per student is up 46%.
- We’ve added 526 new emergency personnel positions
- We’ve housed 383 chronically homeless residents in 12 months.
- Bus driver pay is up nearly 50%
- Teacher turnover is down in Nashville, despite being up nationally
- Police officer pay is up 32%
- E-911 response times are 12% faster
- We’re delivering sidewalks 50% faster and 20% cheaper
- Teachers have paid family leave for the first time
- Over half billion dollars in capital spending for our schools
- And we lead the nation in the use federal relief funds for affordable housing
- Our plan is 5,000 units of affordable housing next year
Innovating to Solve Problems
At the same time, we’re innovating to solve Nashville’s new challenges created by growth, and creating a platform for the next generation.
We’ve created Nashville’s first Departments of Transportation, our first division of Housing, our first Department of Homeless Services, and our first Office of Nightlife.
We’ve made Nashville a “housing first” city, and we’re seeing real results. We’ve invested more than ever in our police department, but also recognized there’s more to public safety than law enforcement. We’ve become a national model through successful programs like Partner-in-Care and REACH. The Village to serve at-risk youth and their families.
Platform for the Future
Looking ahead, this level of innovation and investment must continue for Nashville to thrive.
With this Council, we’ve taken on the tough decisions. We adjusted our tax rate up to deal with insolvency and then back down with reappraisal. We fixed our finances. We took on the billion-dollar liability facing taxpayers from the old Titans lease, and turned it into an opportunity. We have a smart growth plan for the East Bank that saves the city billions of dollars and gets — not gives — hugely valuable land back to the city.
The plan creates a powerful north-south traffic and transit spine that reconnects neighborhoods . It provides a ‘transformational capacity’ increase to deal with traffic and create a platform for future mass transit. It will create a live-work-play environment that will propel Nashville into being the most livable city in America. And this plan will provide resources and land for urgent priorities like attainable and affordable housing.
We’ve also embraced inclusive economic growth and a renewed emphasis on supporting small businesses.
Nashville’s first public-private partnership with our oldest institution of higher learning, Fisk University, will soon be a reality. Burrus Hall will transform into an innovation and entrepreneurship center to create the next generation of Nashville’s business leaders.
For perhaps the first time since John Donelson arrived here on this week in 1780, Nashville is looking to the river for inspiration, not just industry. Through investments in Riverfront Park, Wharf Park, our greenways, Oracle, and a reimagined East Bank, Nashville is poised to embrace the Cumberland River. Our recreation, connectedness, and our built environment will benefit as a result.
We are safeguarding the future of Nashville’s families by building a new juvenile justice center. The new 14-acre campus on Brick Church Pike will enable us to implement a family-oriented, trauma-informed approach to justice
Conclusion
Nashville’s future is bright.
If we responsibly manage our finances, invest in what works, and innovate to meet the challenges of tomorrow – we can be the best city in the United States.
Serving Nashville as Mayor – working for the people of Nashville -- has been the honor of my life.
Over the last four years, Nashville has been tested more than any city in America, and more than any era since the civil war. And we’ve come out of it strong and better positioned to succeed.
I’m deeply proud of what we have accomplished, and unwaveringly confident that our best days as a city are ahead of us.
Thank you.