KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On May 30, the Knoxville City Council will meet to discuss whether to pass the city's Fiscal Year 2023-2024 budget on its second reading, effectively making it official.
The budget was approved on its first reading, 8-1, on May 2. In the weeks since then, community groups and city council members had a chance to review the budget more in-depth. In April, the council voted to adjust the timeline for the city's budget, giving the council and community more time to review it before its second reading.
The city council will also discuss a resolution that would create an "Alternative Response Team" task force, which would develop and propose a plan to implement Alternative Response in Knoxville.
More information about the City Council's May 30 meeting is available below.
Knoxville City Council members will decide to formally adopt the operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, starting on July 1. If approved after the second reading, the budget would effectively go into effect.
It was unveiled on April 26, when Mayor Indya Kincannon proposed the $559.5 million budget that maintains current city service while also spending money on new projects. It did not involve any tax increase. Some of its highlights are available below.
- Around $9.3 million for roadways and road repairs. Kincannon wants to spend $1.8 million for sidewalks, curb cuts and repairs. There'd also be $600,000 for bike and pedestrian improvements such as a separate path on Neyland Drive. Knoxville also would continue its "traffic calming" installations that some neighborhoods have been seeing in recent years to make drivers slow down.
- Around $4.2 million as the city's commitment to help with the multimillion-dollar "Transforming Western" neighborhood redo of the Western Heights area. Knoxville's Community Development Corp. also is taking part in the sweeping neighborhood project. The vision includes affordable housing, park space and other amenities. Last year, KCDC scored a $40 million federal grant for Transforming Western.
- Another $3.5 million for infrastructure improvements around the downtown stadium east of the Old City. Knoxville has committed $14 million for such work. Businessman and Tennessee Smokies team owner Randy Boyd is building the $114 million stadium in a turnkey agreement with the local government. The facility will be publicly owned. It's envisioned for professional baseball, soccer, concerts and other community uses. It's set to open in spring 2025 in time for Smokies baseball.
- Around $1.97 million would go to Zoo Knoxville for routine annual support along with capital support for an unnamed "new immersive destination experience" at one of the city's biggest visitor draws.
Council members proposed giving the community more time this year to review the budget and propose amendments. As part of that expanded timeline, groups gathered for the "People's State of the City." During that event, community groups gathered to discuss some of the changes they wanted to see.
They made three specific requests in the budget. First, they asked to have the Office of Community Empowerment and the Office of Community Safety separated into two groups. Second, they asked for an alternative response team for when Knoxville Police Department officers respond to mental health-related calls. Third, they asked for more money to address a lack of housing that people can afford in the city.
City council members will also discuss a proposal to form a task force that would develop and later propose creating a new kind of response team in the city. According to the city, the proposal is meant to offer "additional trauma-informed services to address mental health, substance use, and homelessness in the City of Knoxville."
A similar program was implemented in the fall of 2020 that paired officers with the Knoxville Police Department and mental health experts from the McNabb Center. The co-response team would respond to calls involving people experiencing a mental health crisis, de-escalating the situation with expertise from mental health workers.
In 2022, the team responded to more than 1,500 calls. Fewer than 3% of people were arrested by the team, and most people ended up going to the emergency room for evaluation. Most people that the co-response team responded to were expressing suicidal ideations. Otherwise, the team responded to welfare checks, general disturbances or suspicious and sick people.
Tuesday's resolution to create an alternative team more directly meant to be trauma-informed, and address issues related to substance use, homelessness and mental health, was introduced by Council member Amelia Parker.
On May 2, a Knoxville committee approved giving Lakeside Street off Magnolia Avenue the honorary name, "Big John Tate Corner." The street runs behind the Golden Gloves Gym where Big John trained.
In 2022, WBIR debuted “Knoxville’s Forgotten Champion: The Story of Big John Tate”, a documentary by William Winnett chronicling Big John Tate's life.
He won an Olympic bronze medal in 1976 and won the WBA World Heavyweight Championship in Pretoria, South Africa, during apartheid. The stadium was desegregated for the first time during the event and more than 80,000 people attended it.
The city council will discuss whether to spend $168,687 to continue providing a construction career ladder program through KnoxWorx, which includes helping people develop "hard and soft skills." The money would be given to Neighborhood Housing, Inc. which operates the KnoxWorx workforce development program.
The money would be given from the Community Development Block Grant program and according to the resolution, around 67 low-income and moderate-income people would go through the KnoxWorx program and develop construction-related schools.
"This program serves all ages with a unique focus on diverse, younger candidates entering the construction trades as well as older, skilled participants exiting the judicial system. KnoxWorx equips participants with the skills needed for long-term sustainable and gainful employment," the city says about the program.
Other career pathways available in the KnoxWorx program include culinary fields, healthcare fields and customer service fields.
