Clarksville releases FY‑26 budget proposal, officials cite $0.15 tax‑rate increase to close shortfall

Lori Mata, former city chief financial officer, presented the Clarksville City Council with a draft fiscal year 2026 budget at a June 12 work session, outlining a citywide budget of about $950,200,000 across all funds and a proposed 15‑cent increase in the property tax rate to close an estimated shortfall.

Mata said the city’s general fund revenue is projected at $169,300,000 and general‑fund expenditures at $170,100,000, with general‑fund departmental spending at about $145,000,000 and $25,100,000 budgeted for transfers and other entity funding. She described the city’s fund‑balance policy as a target of 20% of general‑fund expenditures (about $34,000,000) and said that, after a set of FY‑25 adjustments, the projected ending fund balance would increase by nearly $4,200,000.

The nut of the presentation, Mata said, was that without a tax‑rate increase projected revenues would total roughly $162,400,000 and leave a nearly $8,000,000 shortfall. “A tax rate increase is always the mayor and my last resort,” Mata said, adding that an 88‑cent rate “is not sustainable for a community our size.” Councilman Smith later described the resulting rate as rising to about…