KNOXVILLE - Knoxville City Council tonight adopted Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon’s proposed $499 million net budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27 that invests strategically, emphasizes core services, and holds the line on taxes.

The Mayor’s seventh budget is lean due to rising operational expenses and slowing revenues.

However, public safety remains Job #1 – and competitive pay for first responders is a top priority. Kincannon’s proposed budget directs $102.1 million to salaries and benefits for police officers and firefighters.

The budget also contains historically unprecedented support for affordable housing – an investment of more than $8 million, including nearly $500,000 to help Habitat for Humanity build a new Knoxville community.

The adopted budget reflects the ongoing transition of Chilhowee Park away from being an event venue and being managed through Parks and Recreation. A new four-employee Public Service Department crew is being assigned full-time to the historic park, and $2 million is budgeted for Chilhowee Park capital improvements.

In addition, more than $2 million is allocated in the new budget to preventing homelessness and aiding those experiencing housing instability. The City’s support for warming centers is increasing to $500,000.

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

In other matters tonight:

Multi-use Stadium DORA

Council approved a plan to allow Boyd Sports to manage the sale and consumption of alcohol and beer in the area surrounding the City- and Knox County-owned multi-use stadium between the Old City and East Knoxville.

The state Legislature approved beer and alcohol sales outside the stadium, leaving City Council to approve the specific geographic area and general plan.

The area includes four public plazas with a combined total of 61,400 square feet of space and are adjacent to mixed-use buildings that include residences, retail businesses and restaurants.

The Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, or DORA, will tentatively begin operations in mid-July, with participating businesses required to apply and to use DORA-approved cups with required DORA identification.

Simultaneously, the City is implementing a DORA on Market Square.

For more details: https://www.knoxvilletn.gov/DORA 

Street resurfacing

Council authorized Mayor Kincannon to execute a $4.6 million agreement with Rogers Group to repave 14 miles of streets in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Council districts. Rogers Group submitted the lowest bid of three responding contractors, and this round of resurfacing work will begin this summer and end in November.

Rogers Group also was awarded the competitively-bid contract to resurface City streets in the 1st, 2nd and 6th Districts in January. That work is now underway and will wrap up in early summer.

Restoration of 760 Stone Street

Council authorized $118,000 from the Historic Preservation and Façade Improvement Program to support McCarty Holsaple McCarty’s stabilization and restoration of a building listed as a contributing structure within the Emory Place Historic District.

A total investment of $500,000+ will preserve and bring back into reuse the former boiler house that was originally part of the Sanitary Laundry site.

In December, McCarty Holsaple McCarty celebrated its grand reopening of the lovingly-restored 30,000-square-foot main Sanitary Laundry building, which had been blighted and vacant for decades. That project was honored at Knox Heritage’s East Tennessee Preservation Awards celebration last week.

Smoking prohibited

City Council approved on a second and final reading an ordinance that would prohibit smoking and vaping in age-restricted venues.

These venues had been exempted from a 2007 statewide ban on smoking in enclosed public places and places of employment. The Council majority said they wanted to protect performers, hospitality workers, service providers and other employees from health risks associated with secondhand smoke.

To help affected businesses ease into the transition, the effective date was moved back to Jan. 1, 2027.