City consultant briefs board on state legislative wins, priorities including DMV funding and landlord registration push
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Summary
James Dunn of Frost Brown Todd told Hendersonville aldermen the city will see about $163,000 annually from a state sales‑tax allocation change and that $650,000 in recurring state funding was secured toward a local DMV. He also warned of state preemption efforts and described discussions about a possible landlord registration authority.
James Dunn, an attorney and lobbyist with Frost Brown Todd, gave a legislative update at the Sept. 9 Hendersonville Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, reviewing bills the city tracked in the two‑year session and highlighting several items the city will monitor in the months ahead.
Dunn said the state cut the portion of the sales tax it collects on certain transactions, moving the city’s share in a way that produces a recurring savings for Hendersonville. "We ended up cutting the state sales tax from 1.125 to 0.75, which results in... the city of Hendersonville, a $163,000 annually going forward," he said. Dunn also said the city's legislative delegation helped secure $650,000 recurring in the state budget for a new Department of Motor Vehicles location the city has sought.
Dunn reviewed multiple policy areas city staff and the city attorney’s team are tracking: coordinating with TDOT on local road and exit projects, ongoing concerns about state preemption efforts that could limit local authority on zoning or property taxes, and a push to explore landlord registration authority for cities beyond Nashville. "We're looking at how can we maybe authorize that," he said, noting the Tennessee Municipal League ran a similar bill that failed the prior year.
He also touched on bills affecting firefighters, including legislation that would expand coverage for certain injuries and a separate bill about retirement age and pension costs. On firefighter coverage, Dunn said the city was "neutral on this bill, although supportive of the...firefighters generally," and that some bills carried fiscal notes showing increased local costs. On one firefighter bill he cited a projected increase in local government expenditures of roughly $130,000 statewide; that measure had been taken off notice in house finance and carried a negative recommendation from the pensions committee at the time of the briefing.
Dunn encouraged ongoing communications with the city’s state delegation and said staff will continue monitoring RFP and implementation actions tied to state appropriations. He offered to distribute a digital copy of the legislative bill list to aldermen after the meeting.
