The speculation about a planned transit investment program in Nashville began in August, and now the mayor is throwing full support behind a referendum that would raise four kinds of taxes to pay for a $5.2 billion in transit investments.
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry this week "unveiled a monumental proposal for a $5.2 billion mass transit system, the most expensive, far-reaching and complicated project in Metro history," reports Joey Garrison.
Planetizen last caught wind of this ambitious transit infrastructure investment package in August, after the Nashville Metro Transit Authority released a "High Capacity Transit Briefing Book" [pdf] to map out the prospective system. Now Mayor Barry is pushing for a May referendum "to approve via referendum raising four taxes to pay for the massive undertaking," according to Garrison. "Leading the way as a revenue generator would be a one-half percent hike to the sales tax that would jump to 1 percent in 2023. [The mayor has] also proposed increases to the city’s hotel-motel tax, rental car tax and business and excise tax."
Read the full story: Mayor Barry unveils sweeping $5.2 billion transit proposal for Nashville with light rail, massive tunnel
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