Knoxville City Council tonight (May 27, 2025) approved the $477.3 million net budget proposed by Mayor Indya Kincannon.

The 2025-26 budget prioritizes public safety, continuing high-quality core City services, and affordable housing. 

Examples: $101.2 million, or 21.2 percent of the budget, goes to fund police officers and firefighters. 

Another $8.2 million – which will be multiplied, many times over, when combined collaboratively with various community partners’ investments – is allocated for affordable housing.

More than $1 million is earmarked to prevent homelessness and aid those experiencing housing insecurity – and new funding is increasing the total number of shelter beds and supporting winter warming centers.

The budget also strategically invests in key capital projects and tackles critical long-standing deferred maintenance. (For example, $7 million is allocated for a complete make-over of the 43-year-old World’s Fair Park Amphitheater.) And a paydown on the City’s Convention Center debt will save taxpayers $30.2 million in interest and debt service payments over time.

The City’s property tax rate remains unchanged at $2.1556 per $100 of assessed value – the lowest tax rate since 1974.


City Council tonight also agreed with Mayor Kincannon to crack down on motorists speeding in school zones, adopted a redevelopment plan for the Magnolia Avenue Corridor, and voted to partner with the University of Tennessee to expand the impact of the City’s violence-reduction efforts:


School-zone traffic safety

• City Council authorized Mayor Kincannon to enter into an agreement with Blue Line Solutions to expand the use of traffic-enforcement cameras to reduce speeding in school zones

• Blue Line Solutions was the most responsive of six companies that submitted proposals to install school zone speed-enforcement cameras at 41 public schools, up to 30 cameras to monitor motorists running red lights at intersections where vehicle crashes occur most frequently, and two cameras to be used to enforce noise violations

• Violations recorded by the cameras will continue to be reviewed by a Knoxville Police Department officer before any traffic citations are issued


Magnolia Avenue Corridor

• City Council tonight adopted the Magnolia Avenue and Chilhowee Park Redevelopment Plan, prepared by Knoxville’s Community Development Corp. following Council’s authorization last October and an April 28 public hearing

• The plan focuses solely on commercial properties, roughly between the Magnolia Avenue Warehouse District and Burlington

• It encourages multi-story mixed-use development, restoration and reuse of historic structures, and safer connections to schools, parks and public spaces


Project TLC

• Mayor Kincannon was authorized to enter into agreement with UT’s Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS)

• SWORPS will conduct a comprehensive assessment of how and why violence is down in the Project TLC zones (East Knoxville, Montgomery Village and Western Heights) after receiving focused attention from City departments and community social service providers

• SWORPS will establish a community advisory board, survey residents and host focus groups

•       Star Starks, Office of Community Safety and Empowerment: "The aim is to help identify trends – why crime is occurring, or decreasing – as well as service gaps and barriers. By stepping back and analyzing what’s happening in the TLC zones, we can expand what’s working and reduce violence in other neighborhoods."