Committee advances expansion of downtown business improvement district amid oversight and enforcement questions

The Metro Nashville Budget & Finance Committee on June 30 approved second reading of an ordinance to expand a downtown Central Business Improvement District (CBID), adopting an amendment that adds quarterly reporting and ordering a re-referral to the committee for additional review; the motion passed 10-0.

Supporters of the CBID expansion told the committee the district helps keep downtown “clean and safe.” Brenda Sanderson, a downtown business owner and resident of District 19, said, “I do not wanna go back to that, especially considering our current status as a first class city.” Tom Turner, president and CEO of the Downtown Partnership, said the organization sends monthly accounting reports to NDOT and that an independent audit is delivered annually: "Monthly, we send an accounting report to what is now NDOT... and then at the end of the year, within 90 days of the end of the year,…