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Clarksville council approves FY2025–26 budget after amendments on hires, taxes and Frosty Morn project
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Summary
After failed first reading and a successful motion to reconsider, the Clarksville City Council approved the fiscal year 2025–26 general fund budget as amended. The final measure restores several new hires, raises a transfer to debt service, and closes and directs marketing of the Frosty Morn capital project for senior affordable housing.
The Clarksville City Council voted to approve the fiscal year 2025–26 general fund budget after a motion to reconsider and a series of amendments that restored multiple new hires and changed the handling of a long-running Frosty Morn capital project.
The action followed an initial first-reading vote in which the ordinance failed, a motion to reconsider later in the meeting, and subsequent floor amendments that altered personnel and capital project allocations before final passage.
Council members debated an amendment by Councilman Streetman to restore 16 positions across departments — including three building and codes staff, three firefighters, a materials management supervisor, a garage equipment maintenance technician, several parks and recreation grounds positions and four police cadets with vehicles — and to increase the transfer to the debt service fund by $1,150,000. Streetman framed the change as a response to department requests and operational needs. Miss Wilcox, a city staff member, told the council, "For the average homeowner, that would be about $2.20 per month." The Streetman amendment passed 8–4.
Councilman Marquis later proposed moving $1,000,000 from a Frosty Morn allocation to pay for hires, which was debated and amended on the floor. Councilman McLaughlin successfully amended Marquis's motion to require the city to market the Frosty Morn property "for privately built and managed true affordable income based housing for senior citizens." The amendment to the amendment passed 8–4, and the amended motion passed 7–5. Council discussion on Frosty Morn included concerns about previous investment, environmental constraints raised by some members, ongoing security costs for the site and whether the property could or should host residential development.
City staff and council members repeatedly noted constraints tied to recurring revenue. The sponsor of the principal budget said the revised proposal retained a 2.5% general wage increase, kept capital projects largely intact, and proposed no property tax rate increase in the first revised document, achieved in part by eliminating new hires; subsequent amendments reversed portions of those eliminations. Council members emphasized the city must adopt a budget before June 30 to avoid contractual and payment disruptions.
Chief Montgomery of the fire department answered questions about vehicle lifespans, saying the department follows NFPA guidance and plans for roughly 20 years of service life (about 15 years frontline, five years in reserve) for fire engines.
The council voted to reconsider the failed first reading later in the meeting; that motion passed 8–3–1. After votes on the floor amendments and final consideration, the ordinance ultimately passed as amended. The meeting minutes record the procedural steps and the council’s direction to market the Frosty Morn property as described above.
Public comment at the meeting included a statement from Colt Young of the Tennessee Professional Firefighters, who urged the council to consider livable wage concerns for firefighters and said the union and firefighters "are not asking for an unreasonable request."
