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JUNE 27, 2024 | VOLUME 36 | NUMBER 25
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Hospitality industry plan highlights Nashville’s strengths, potential, needs
NCVC, Ryman Hospitality create big-picture document related to tourism BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS
Councilmember At-Large Delishia Porterfield
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
Council passes substitute budget with community requests
Funding to include pay raises for Metro employees, Office of Youth Safety and contract compliance board BY NICOLLE S. PRAINO With applause to celebrate, Metro Council unanimously passed the fiscal year 2025 budget as it was substituted by Budget and Finance Committee Chair Delishia Porterfield at its Tuesday night. Porterfield highlighted several budget additions that were important items from the public hearing such as an increase in Metro employee pay with a 4 percent cost of living adjustment. That raise will give 95 percent of employees around 7 percent additional compensation compared to the previous year. “I’m very proud of this budget because without raising taxes, without laying anyone
off, without reducing any services, we were able to focus on our workers, we were able to focus on our community, we were able to focus on the youth,” she said. There were several amendments to the substitute budget that would have further increased the cost of living adjustment filed by Councilmember Ginny Welsh, but she did not move her amendments during discussion. There seemed to have been some confusion about the process as she called for a point of order after the council voted to adopt the budget but it was too late at that point.
The budget also funds $300,000 for a “Build It Right” contract and compliance board to help the city ensure its development is done with worker safety in mind. In funds for the Metro Health Department, $150,000 is earmarked for distribution of feminine hygiene products at Metro Nashville Public Schools. The Fire Department and EMS services received nearly $750,000 in additional funding for the REACH program, Porterfield said, which allows for a coresponse to nonviolent mental health crises. “When you look at the budget, we were able to consider this a moral >> PAGE 2
The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. and Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. on Thursday released a multi-page document outlining plans for the city to attract additional hospitality and leisure tourism. Called Music City Next, the 37-page plan saw input from more than 100 civic, business and elected leaders. Colin Reed, Ryman Hospitality Partners executive chairman, and Deana Ivey, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp president and CEO, co-chaired the effort. The document focuses on who visits Nashville and untapped visitor sources, thus establishing some themes on which the local hospitality industry can capitalize. Specific elements addressed are hotels, entertainment culture and tourism-fueled revenue projections. A segment of the plan highlights the various celebrities — and not all limited to the music industry — whose social media accounts and status are such that more emphasis than otherwise can be stressed for future local tourism growth. The list of well-known Nashvillians who are social influencers and who are not members of the music industry include restaurateur Maneet Chauhan, author and Parnassus Books owner Ann Patchett, academician and historian Jon Meacham, auto racer Josef Newgarden and >> PAGE 2 model Karen Elson.
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