Governor denies Metro’s request for additional COVID-19 funds

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    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday he would not be providing additional COVID-19 relief funds to Nashville that was requested last week by Mayor John Cooper.

In a letter to the governor last week, Cooper requested $82.6 million in additional funds to help Davidson County’s recovery efforts.

“The current request, I’m not going to fund the current request as requested,” Lee said when questioned during his weekly coronavirus briefing. “I offered in that letter a number of questions about the way it appeared to me they were spending those funds. I suspect that we’ll meet and talk about his response to those questions in order for us to move forward.”

Cooper said in his letter dated Sept. 8 that Nashville’s hotel and short-term rental occupancy tax revenues have dropped by more than 80%. Similar revenue crashes affected Nashville’s air travel and bar and restaurant revenues.

In the letter, Cooper outlined the city’s needs, which Lee did not agree with.

The Metro Council recently raised the county’s property tax rate 38% in an effort to balance the budget. The state was considering taking control of the city’s finances prior to Cooper’s election last year. The state still could take over the city’s finances if a referendum to rollback the approved tax increase to 2% passes.

“For me this is about stewardship. This is about responsibly utilizing taxpayer dollars and I believe that we should cut budgets and not raise taxes. That’s the first responsible action we should do. That’s what the state’s approach is. I think that’s what government’s approach should be, to live without our means.”

Lee said the state set aside $300 million to help businesses to recover from the pandemic.

“I think we should significantly invest in businesses’ economic recovery,” said Lee. “That would be a priority if were operating in a Metro government.”

Lee said Davidson County specifically has $121 million set aside through federal funds for pandemic recovery. He said it was one of the few counties to receive designated funds from the federal government.

“There are 95 counties. Providing funding for Davidson County additionally beyond the millions of dollars they already have means taking money away from the funding for the other 94 counties,” said Lee. “I have to believe that the strategy that I’m investing in is one that is consistent and inline with the state’s strategy, and Metro Nashville’s are not.”

Lee said Metro’s economic recovery is the least recovered of all metro regions in the United States right now.

“We made a commitment early on to try to life restrictions as soon as possible in a way we thought would not compromise our approach to the health or mitigation of the virus. We have to get our economy moving forward,” said Lee.

Mayor Cooper issued the following statement shortly after Lee’s announcement:
“It’s my job to advocate for our city. Nashville has been deeply hurt by the pandemic. We followed White House guidance on mask-wearing and closing bars. I’m proud to report that we have gone from the worst to the 88th county in Tennessee by daily new cases per 100,000 residents. However, the deep economic injury from the pandemic is still with us. We should, of course, ask for any available help to serve our people and our businesses during this crisis.”

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