CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) The new Clarksville city budget was passed Thursday by the City Council with some last minute changes that included $6.5 in funding for the proposed downtown parking garage.
Those funds were moved to the Northeast Connector Road project that would connect Wilma Rudolph Blvd. to Trenton Road and other nearby roadways to help relieve traffic after a motion was made by Councilman Jeff Burkhart.
Burkhart said the money could be better used to help around 20,000 motorists each day than the parking garage which would only affect about 200 people a day. Council members voting with Burkhart included Tim Chandler, Richard Garrett, Valerie Guzman, Ron Erb, David Allen and Wanda Smith.
Council members Jeff Henley, Mike Alexander, Geno Grubbs and Bill Powers each voted with Mayor Kim McMillan to leave the money in the budget for the parking garage. Deanna McLaughlin abstained on the motion. After the meeting the mayor talked about road projects for the city.
“The amount of road projects that were included in this budget is tremendous. I think the citizens will start to realize a tremendous number of both new roads and additions to existing roadways,“ said McMillan.
Another change to the budget included removing $300,000 for the planned purchase of the Tanglewood property on Madison St. which sits next to the proposed Urban Wilderness Park land that already belongs to the city.
The 2019 City of Clarksville budget passed by a vote of 11-2 with council members Deanna McLaughlin and Ron Erb voting against the spending plan.
The final budget which takes effect July 1 carries a 2.5 percent pay increase for city employees with the tax rate remaining at $1.24 per $100 assessed value.