Metro Budget Proposal Progresses & Sylvan Park Zoning Change Withdrawn

Metro Council passed the city’s $1.5 billion budget on its second reading Tuesday night, after a nearly two hour public debate on the Mayor’s proposal.

One contentious issue was a step increase in pay for police officers. Mayor Bill Purcell wants to postpone the increase, which would be above and beyond an across the board pay raise for Metro employees. Jack Byrd is spokesman for the Teamsters Union, the official bargaining representative for police officers. He says the step raises help attract new hires.

“Police officers receive and the fire department receives their step increases every year. That’s one of the recruitment tools Metro uses. It’s been used forever, there’s never been a time they didn’t get their step increases.”

The step increase would cost $4.9 million – money that would have to be cut elsewhere in Metro’s budget, which has to be passed by June 30th.

In other Council business, a controversial bill that would’ve limited home construction and renovation in Sylvan Park was officially withdrawn. The bill had lain dormant for a year. A council sponsored survey found that 66% of Sylvan Park residents opposed the measure.

Bill sponsor John Summers blamed the media and opponents for waging a “campaign of misinformation” against the measure.

Sylvan Park resident Tom Hamilton – who opposed the measure, says he feels like Summers misled them.

“One of the things he said at the time of the vote was that he would abide by the results of the vote. And that makes me wonder about his intentions now. He didn’t really mean it. Apparently he thinks things have changed in Sylvan Park, and that there’s people who were previously against it that are now for it, but that’s not the case.”

Summers disagreed, says he’s hearing from people who are now for the restrictions on construction.

Two other bills that WPLN has been tracking were passed on third and final reading last night. The bill requiring all Metro buildings to be built according to environmentally friendly and energy efficient standards passed on a voice vote. The ethics proposal extending the Council ethics codes, with a few exceptions, to all Metro employees also passed on a voice vote.