TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Feb 10, 2022

Legal fees for the Davidson County Election Commission’s (DCEC) defense of an anti-property tax ballot measure have surpassed $700,000 and are still rising, the Nashville Post reports. The Tennessee Court of Appeals last week heard arguments from the DCEC and Metro on the merits of the proposal, which seeks to roll back the county’s 2020 property tax increase and limit the city’s ability to raise taxes in the future. DCEC hired outside counsel because DCEC Chair Jim Delanis and the GOP members declared the DCEC’s interest at odds with Metro’s, so Metro's legal department could not handle the appeal. Republican commissioners last summer chose to defend the ballot in court instead of seeking a declaratory judgement first. As a result, the DCEC is responsible for defending the proposition, not 4 Good Government, which wrote the measure and gathered signatures to place it on the ballot.