The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance is questioning the funding sources of a pro-transit organization in Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Davidson County voters on Tuesday approved a plan to fund bus system, sidewalk and traffic signal improvements with a half-cent sales tax hike.
Early voters approved the plan with an overwhelming 131,608 voting in support and 69,221 votes against, prompting a victory speech from first-term Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
Tuesday’s vote means Nashville is no longer one of just four of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas that do not have dedicated funding for transit.
The transit plan will raise Davidson County sales tax from 9.25% to 9.75%, on par with sales taxes in surrounding counties. The $3.1 billion in revenue (in today’s dollars) will fund the construction of 86 miles of sidewalk, 600 upgraded smart traffic signals, and an improved 24/7/365 bus system with a dozen community transit centers, and 17 park and ride facilities.
Recurring annual costs for operation and maintenance are estimated at $111 million in today’s dollars. A third-party audit estimated the plan’s total cost including financing and reserve funds will clock in at $6.93 billion over 15 years, with revenue bond proceeds, state grants, a potential $1.4 billion in federal contributions and fare revenue making up the remainder not covered by the sales tax bump. The tax surcharge will end once the debt issued for the plan is paid off and Nashville’s council affirms the tax is no longer needed.
Shaping and campaigning for the transit plan was a major focus of O’Connell’s first year in office.
This was Metro Nashville’s second attempt at a transit referendum. A light rail-centric transit plan that featured a controversial underground tunnel downtown failed 64% to 36% in 2018.
O’Connell and his team assembled the plan quickly, relying on multiple previous city studies and plans to shape its contours in time to make the most of the Nov. 5 election’s higher turnout.
The plan set aside light rail, instead focusing on what the O’Connell administration determined to be a more cost-effective option: beefing up Nashville’s WeGo public bus system. O’Connell’s plan also heavily stressed benefits to those who would not frequently ride WeGo buses, emphasizing the plan’s sidewalk and traffic signal improvements.
The Nashville Moves Action Fund, a nonprofit entity that poured more than $2 million toward promoting the referendum, came under scrutiny in the week before the election for its lack of donor transparency. Nashville Moves Action Fund maintained that as a 501(c)4 organization it is not required to disclose its donors, but the state Registry of Election Finance said the group is acting as a political action committee and must therefore file as one.
The referendum’s opposition campaign was comparatively anemic. The Committee to Stop an Unfair Tax was largely funded by a $50,000 contribution from former car dealership mogul Lee Beaman.
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